Tough penalty

A High Court judge today gave notice that anyone caught supplying guns in Barbados will not be given “a slap on the wrist”.

Madame Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell made the point after listening to submissions from both the prosecution and defense counsel in relation to a case involving Shad Gabriel Orlando Slocombe.

Slocombe, 22, of Block 1, No. 5, Country Road High Rise Towers, St Michael, had previously pleaded guilty to having a .32 revolver and five rounds of ammunition on July 18, 2018. He also pleaded guilty to supplying the firearm and ammunition.

And while she delayed sentencing Slocombe until December 2, 2022, Justice Smith-Bovell said she was treating it as a very serious offence.

“Isn’t this case different from the normal, simple possession, had a gun under the bed, under the pillow case? Isn’t there evidence that this firearm was moved by him? You haven’t really addressed the issue of supply. This isn’t just firearm possession…this is where guns are moving about the country. Doesn’t that distinguish it from the normal possession case?” Justice Smith-Bovell asked.

In their sentencing submissions Senior State Counsel Rudolph Burnett suggested a starting point of eight years for the offences, while Michael Lashley, King’s Counsel asked that Slocombe, a first-time offender who has been on remand at Dodds since 2018, be either sentenced to time served or be made to pay a fine.

However, Justice Smith-Bovell, who over the weekend was appointed as a High Court judge after acting for the past three years, scoffed at both suggestions.

She contended that there was a serious problem in the country with the supply of guns.

“The evidence is that people share firearms to commit offences. This is a case where he was in possession of a firearm. It moved from him to somebody and came back to him, so this is not simple possession.

“Doesn’t this case distinguish itself from under the bed, under the mattress, to say that eight years is a starting point when eight years is given for simple possession and nothing else?

“This is possession and supply. People that just got it under the mattress does start at eight [years]. They are the ones that walk about and find it and then stash it home under the rock. They don’t share it with anybody. So how can he get eight when they are getting eight? This is more egregious because he is sharing the firearm.”

Justice Smith-Bovell also said the matters were too serious to merit a fine.

In fact, she recalled that a man was recently sentenced to the maximum 15 years for supplying firearms.

“A fine is not an option in this case. We have to stamp out people having firearms, sharing about firearms, using firearms. We don’t know if anything was done but when you share a firearm it is a possibility that it is being used in an offence and that has to be taken into consideration because then it isn’t recovered at the scene where the offence happened, it gone back to the owner or to the renter.

“Having firearms is bad enough. Moving them around society makes it worse. So this is not simple possession, somebody else had it through him. It left him and he eventually got it back. So it went somewhere, God knows what they did with it and then it went back to him. This is something the court has to take into account if it wants to stamp out gun crime. You can’t get a slap on the wrist for that,” Justice Smith-Bovell said.

“As recently as this weekend, we had an alleged gun incident again. It got to stop at some point in time and the time is fast approaching where a fine will not be enough.”(RB)