While Sean George Whitehead admitted to ownership of cannabis police found when they executed a warrant at his residence more than 11 years ago, he maintained that the discovered AK-47 rifle belonged to a friend.
This was revealed by Senior State Counsel Neville Reid on Tuesday as he disclosed the facts of the case in which Whitehead pleaded guilty to firearm, ammunition and drug-related charges.
Whitehead, of Long Beach Estate, Christ Church, was back before Justice Randall Worrell in the No. 2 Supreme Court having pleaded guilty on Monday to having possession of an unlicensed rifle and 24 rounds of ammunition on March 10, 2011.
He also admitted that on the same date, he had 3.44 kilogrammes of cannabis and equipment fit and intended for use in connection with the preparation for the misuse of cannabis.
Watson outlined that based on certain information received on March 9, 2011, police obtained a warrant to search the premises occupied by Whitehead at Wotton Plantation, Christ Church.
At around 8:05 a.m., lawmen went to the residence and shortly after Whitehead arrived, driving a car. When questioned by police, he told them he rented the property and he was shown the warrant.
During their search of the residence, they found a brown plastic bag and a transparent container in the refrigerator. The contents were examined and found to contain a quantity of vegetable matter suspected to be cannabis.
When he was asked about the illegal drugs, Whitehead responded: “That is just some marijuana leaves I was storing in the fridge.”
A further search of the bathrooms to the rear of the house revealed a white plastic bag which contained cannabis plants.
“I took all the marijuana leaves off them and left them in there,” Whitehead told police.
The officers continued their search and in a bedroom to the rear of the house, they saw several stalks of vegetable matter hanging on a line. They also saw one white plastic bag on the floor and a quantity of vegetable matter was discovered on a chair, on the floor, in a glass and in a jar on a shelf in the wardrobe, and on the shelf itself.
A further search turned up two pairs of scissors and a digital scale which contained remnants of vegetable matter.
Police then found a bulky nylon bag which, when examined, was found to contain a black rifle with a transparent type magazine attached. The ammunition was counted and amounted to 24 rounds.
When he was asked to account for the weapon, Whitehead told police he was holding it for someone.
“Look, officer, I just keeping that machine gun for Thomas Clarke from out Dayrells Road. I only had it with me from sometime last year between September and October. All I do with it is wrap that blue bath towel around it and put it up,” he said.
Police then conducted a search of Whitehead’s car and found a cigarette which contained a small quantity of vegetable matter. A container containing vegetable matter was also found in the back seat.
A search of a bushy area outside the house also turned up 62 cannabis plants in white buckets.
“All of these are my marijuana plants,” Whitehead admitted at the time.
In a subsequent statement to police, while being interviewed, Whitehead said he had known the friend who gave him the gun for about 10 years.
“About 6 p.m. in the evening, I went to a pasture by a school at Dayrells Road where I met Thomas. He then told me that he wanted me to stash something for him and handed me a black nylon bag that was very heavy. I asked him what it was and he told me ‘don’t worry about it’. I placed the bag in my vehicle and I carried it to the house at Wotton Plantation.
“When I got into the house, I opened the bag and saw that it was a machine gun. I then removed some of the plastic bags that it was wrapped with and placed it in my blue bath towel and put it back in the black nylon bag. I then placed the bag with the machine gun in the top shelf of the back bedroom and locked the door,” his statement read.
He also admitted that he began planting cannabis trees at the residence in December 2010.
Whitehead, who is represented by attorney-at-law Dr Lenda Blackman will be sentenced on Friday.
