The discovery of an illegal firearm and 83 rounds of ammunition stashed in a crib and in the cellar of Jarad Eversley’s family home resulted in him being sentenced to eight years in prison.
However, following several deductions, he only has three years and four months more to serve.
The Howells Cross Road resident confessed earlier this year to having a firearm without a valid licence and 83 rounds of ammunition without a valid permit.
Delivering the sentence last Friday in the No. 4A Supreme Court, Madam Justice Wanda Blair said: “Ammunition is not a toy. We don’t have to look too far to see the increasing violence in our society once ammunition is loaded in the firearms of trigger-happy young men.”
When police executed a search warrant at Eversley’s residence, the now-convicted man removed a sock that contained some bullets from a crib. He also directed police under the cellar and handed over a gun and several more rounds of ammunition.
While Eversley initially admitted ownership of the illegal weapon and the bullets, he later claimed that the firearm and ammunition taken from under the cellar had been given to him by an uncle.
Justice Blair told the first-time offender that the offences were serious and warranted custodial sentences.
She identified several aggravating factors including the quantity of ammunition, the fact that the .32 revolver was in good working condition and was loaded, that the items were hidden in several locations in the home to avoid detection, and that the items were found in the residence Eversley occupied with other family members whose liberty he endangered.
Mitigating in his favour was that the firearm was not traced to any illegal activity and that the gun and ammunition were recovered.
“You are a young man who has pleaded guilty and has thrown yourself at the mercy of this court. However, the court is alarmed by the quantity of ammunition you had in your possession. Unless you planned to wage war somewhere in Barbados, the only inference which can be drawn is that you were either planning to start a business selling ammunition or you were already involved in that business, in circumstances where counsel said you were otherwise gainfully employed,” Justice Blair said.
“Although you initially tried to blame one of your uncles for giving you the firearm and six rounds of ammunition, you admitted ownership of these items. You also said that someone had given you the 77 rounds of ammunition, but you refused to name the person who allegedly gave them to you. The fact that these items were found in a house occupied by your elderly grandparents and other relatives is a particularly aggravating factor since you put them through the pain and indignity of having police search their residence and question them in relation to these items.
“I hope you have apologised to them for the stress you have put them through. Too often when persons engage in criminal enterprises, they forget the harm that they cause their families,” the judge added.
She sentenced Eversley to eight years on both counts with discounts of 12 months for mitigating factors, 32 months for his guilty pleas and 12 months for the 363 days spent on remand.
“You therefore have to spend an additional three years and four months imprisonment,” Justice Blair stated.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
State Counsel Maya Kellman prosecuted the matter while Eversley was represented by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens.
