Jury selected for Brit’s gun, ammo, drug trial 

Several witnesses, including the lead investigator, are expected to give evidence on Thursday as the trial against a British national facing firearm, ammunition and cannabis charges continues.

Andrew David Key, 58, whose local address is given as Josey Hill, St Lucy, pleaded not guilty to an eight-count indictment when he appeared in the No. 3 Supreme Court before Justice Carlisle Greaves on Wednesday.

The charges include having a shotgun, an air rifle, a .223 calibre rifle, and a .22 calibre rifle without a valid licence, and 3 093 rounds of ammunition without a valid permit, along with unlawfully cultivating cannabis, possession of cannabis, and possession of camouflage clothing – four pairs of pants, eight jackets, one tee shirt and one hat – without authorisation. The offences allegedly occurred on July 24, 2013.

Noting that the burden of proof remained on the prosecution, Principal State Counsel Neville Watson told the jury of eight women and one man that there was no room for bias and urged them to have “unvarnished minds” as they listened to the evidence.

Eight witnesses, most of them police officers, are expected to give evidence in the trial, he said.

Giving a brief synopsis of the state’s case, Watson said that at the time of the incident, Key had been living in Greenwich Village, St James. Police executed a search warrant for guns and ammunition, based on information they had received. Watson said that Key, his wife and two children were at the home during the search.

Several items were found in a bedroom, along with boxes of ammunition in the living room, in a table, and in a lockbox in the patio. He added that according to police reports, a quantity of cannabis was discovered on a bookshelf and three dried cannabis plants in buckets of soil. Key was questioned about the findings.