A $5,000 fine has been imposed on a St Philip man for illegal possession of a “rusty and non-functional” firearm he found in a field he was cultivating and placed in a toilet cistern.
A High Court judge handed down the sentence Thursday on Shawn McNeil Evelyn from Eastbourne. He has three months to pay the fine if he wants to avoid spending six months at HMP Dodds. Evenlyn, who was on bail, had already spent nearly five months on remand.
The convicted man, who is celebrating his birthday today, had pleaded guilty to the March 26, 2015 offence last September before Justice Pamela Beckles in the No. 2 Supreme Court.
Principal Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney said that police executed a warrant at Evelyn’s residence just 5 a.m., that day and found the gun in a toilet cistern.
Evelyn told detectives he had found the weapon in the “ground” while working.
The firearm was examined by an expert who stated that because of its condition, the .32 short calibre revolver was incapable of being fired as the trigger mechanism was faulty. Nonetheless, the weapon was considered a firearm as defined by the Firearms Act.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Beckles explained that even though firearm possession is a serious offence the Court determined that the threshold for a custodial sentence had not been met in this case. That decision was based on the condition of the gun, being that it was “rusty, pitted and incapable of firing”, and the fact that Evelyn said he found it in the ground while preparing it, placed it in the toilet cistern and forgot it there for several years, she said.
The judge said this “seems to be truthful after taking a look at the photographs of the said firearm and the rusty water in the [toilet] tank. The court is satisfied that the imposition of a non-custodial sentence would do justice in this case”.
Aggravating factors of the case, Beckles said, were the serious nature and prevalence of such offences, namely the possession of firearms, the fact that it was concealed in a toilet tank and was not licensed.
Mitigating in Evelyn’s case was the condition of the firearm, that it was not used and was not found in a public place. The judge also took note of Evelyn’s early guilty plea and his expression of remorse.
Given that Evelyn had already spent 147 days on remand for the offence the judge imposed the additional “small fine”.
Evelyn, who has four prior convictions, was represented by attorneys Queen’s Counsel Michael Lashley and Sade Harris.
