Rap Brown walks free of ammunition charge

While he breached the rules of the shooting club by not handing over 100 rounds of .40 ammunition before he left, Ashford Athelbert Rap Brown Jones did not break the law, Justice Elwood Watts said on Wednesday.

As a result, the former police detective walked out of the No. 2A Supreme Court on Wednesday without an illegal possession of ammunition charge hanging over his head.

The 77-year-old resident of Goodland, formerly of Inch Marlow, Christ Church, had pleaded not guilty to having 100 rounds of ammunition on October 13, 2019, without a valid licence, and had opted for a judge-alone trial.

During his hour-long summation, Justice Watts pointed out that under the Firearms Act, there were exemptions to the law under which Jones had been charged, including for members of a licensed shooting club engaged in club activities or in connection with drill or target practice.

“The charge before the court states that the person is charged with not having a valid licence. Now that section says that you don’t need a valid licence if you satisfy these prerequisites,” he said.

Citing evidence that Jones was a member of a licensed shooting club, the judge noted that he had been coming from the rifle range, where he had been engaged in shooting, with the intention of returning to continue shooting.

“I have to concede there is no evidence from the State negativing Mr Jones’ defence . . . . The evidence that the State leads must show that he did not have it in connection with target practice. While speaking for himself, he said ‘We had a shoot coming off in Trinidad on Wednesday. I was at the range practising. I had with me ammunition to shoot rifle and pistol. I run out of water and was going to get more water. I apologise for having the ammunition. I should not have had it based on the rules of the club. I should have surrendered it. It was inadvertent’ . . . . Even though he had breached the rules of the club, he has not breached the law,” Justice Watts stated.

However, the judge pointed to records from the shooting club indicating that Jones had been issued five boxes of .40 calibre ammunition, noting that no explanation had been provided for the whereabouts of three of them.

“You execute a warrant at his house, you find zero. You find two boxes in his car, you don’t ask what happened with the other three boxes? . . . . You are the State, you are prosecuting, you don’t ask about that?” the judge said, though adding that the court could not speculate.

Justice Watts ordered that the ammunition be surrendered to the Rifle and Pistol Association to be credited to Jones’ account.

It had been the State’s case, as presented by Principal State Counsel Oliver Thomas and State Counsel Dr Zoe King, that Jones had licences for three firearms—a 7.62 Paramount Target Rifle, a .177 Anschutz Target Rifle and a Glock 17 9mm pistol.

On the mentioned date, police intercepted Jones’ vehicle along Grazettes Main Road, St Michael. During their search of the vehicle, 100 rounds of .40 ammunition, for which he did not have the requisite licence to carry, hold or use, were discovered.

Giving an unsworn statement from the dock, Jones, in his defence, said he had gone to the range at Paragon, Christ Church, to practise shooting and had two boxes of .40 calibre ammunition.

He told the court he ran out of water, left the range to head to PriceSmart to buy cases of water before returning and had inadvertently put the two cases of ammunition in his car along with his shooting equipment.

Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens and attorney Suthany Hall represented Jones.