St James man admits ownership after AK-47s, shotgun, drugs found

After police discovered four guns — including two AK-47s and a 12-gauge shotgun — in a hidden cellar at his home, along with cannabis plants in his yard, Juan Juist Geraldo Clement told officers: “Dem is mine.”

Clement, of Jackmans Road, Endeavour, St James, reappeared in the High Court on Thursday after previously pleading guilty in an earlier session of the Continuous Assizes to having, on April 21, 2018, a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, two AK-47 automatic rifles, and a .223 calibre semi-automatic rifle without valid licences, as well as five rounds of ammunition. He also admitted to having and trafficking 208.49 grammes of cannabis and cultivating a cannabis plant.

State Counsel Eleazar Williams, who appeared for Principal State Counsel Romario Straker, told the No. 5A Supreme Court that police executed a search warrant at Clement’s home. They served the warrant on Clement’s mother, as he was not at home, and she directed them to his locked bedroom. Officers looked through a broken pane at the back door and saw plants suspected to be cannabis in pots and white buckets — 33 in total.

The police found additional plants and observed stalks hanging on a line in the corner of the bedroom. During the search, officers noticed a piece of plywood nailed to the floor behind the bedroom door. They removed it with a hammer, revealing a hole leading to a cellar beneath Clement’s room where they found a cloth and a bag, which both contained “something heavy”.

Williams said: “They cut open the bag and found it to contain two black and rust coloured firearms and pointed out the two firearms to the now convicted man’s mother and asked what she could say about it. She held her chest and made certain statements. On opening the beige cloth, it contained one shotgun, one rifle and six magazines…. They made a further check of the hole and saw a blue bottle with a red cover. On opening the bottle, it contained two masks.” 

When the shotgun was examined, five rounds of ammunition were found in its chamber.

The prosecutor said that later that same day, when Clement was taken into custody, he told officers that the guns, bullets, and cannabis were his. When asked where he got the firearms, he said he had found them and, when pressed further as to the location, replied: “I can’t even remember.” 

Questioned about the magazines, he said: “Everything in there is mines. I find dem. I have nothing more to say.”

He also accepted ownership of the cannabis stalks, which ranged from one and a half to two and a half feet. “It is for me. My personal usage.”

Three of the firearms were found to be in good working order, but the .223 calibre semi-automatic rifle’s trigger mechanism was faulty and deemed “inoperable” by a police firearms examiner, the prosecutor said.

Senior Counsel Arthur Holder, representing Clement, accepted the facts. 

Justice Christopher Birch adjourned the case until April 24 for sentencing submissions.