Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old man who had a firearm and matching ammunition in his possession to three years imprisonment.
Shawn Fletchman of 1338 Cummings Park, Sophia, a father of five minor children, pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
On September 1 in Georgetown the man had in his possession one .22 pistol and two rounds of .22 ammunition without being the holder of a valid firearm license.
The magistrate told Fletchman on Thursday that she had before her two warrants for his arrest since he was absent from his trial before Adrian Thompson who was a magistrate in July 2002.
The magistrate informed the defendant that he was fined $10,000 and sentenced to three years. He was also given a one-year sentence on a charge of using utensils to smoke cocaine. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
Initially, Fletchman had denied all of the charges and pleaded not guilty to the arms and ammunition charges. “…because I is a Rasta they put it on me,” the defendant told the court.
He said that the items were not his and the police found it some distance away from him.
However, he returned to the court later and changed his plea to guilty. “I ain’t do this, I love meh children…I doing this for meh children. You done tell me I get three years so I trying to see if everything could fit into one,” Fletchman told the magistrate.
Further, the defendant said that he was frustrated back in July 2002 and that was the reason he was absent from his trial.
How dare he even mention his children? He did’nt think of them when he chose to live a life of crime.He should have been given a heavier sentence,because these are the bandits that are committing the gun crimes that we hear about,he is just a lucky one that was brought in alive,at least we can say that the GPF did their job when they catch men like Shawn Fletchman,there are more of them out there,and when caught,they should be given the maximum sentences,get them off the streets.
The punishment fit the crime.
its the same old story all the time.people get caught for criminal activities then go b4 the court and cry for mercy.sickness or the sole bread winner or having small babies to care for.you do the crime you do the time.the gun laws in Guyana are a laugh.he should have given at least 15 years in prison because no on knows how many times he used his gun to intimidate and robb innocent people.its just because he got caught now.
Poor guy , he doing it for his children .
Put him in jail and B
What I meant to say is BEAT the stuffings outof him !!!
The time for these guys need to be longer. This magistrate seem soft on criminals. They need to be put away for a long time.