Lieutenant Colonel Tony Ross has lost one year of his seniority for failing to ensure that the keys to the keys cabinet were booked in at Defence Headquarters’ Operations Room and to manage an effective booking in/out system for the keys ledger.
This decision was handed down yesterday by Judge Advocate Oslen Small at the court-martial of Ross who was in charge of the army’s arms store at the time of the theft of the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols in February 2006.
The court-martial ended late Tuesday but Small reserved his sentence for yesterday.
Stabroek News had incorrectly reported in yesterday’s edition that Ross was found guilty of failing to effectively mange the arms store. Leslie Sobers, the officer’s lawyer, clarified that the charge had nothing to do with the management of the arms store but rather a failure to ensure keys were booked in and a system for booking in and booking out of keys was kept.
Sobers also clarified that his client’s court-martial had nothing to do with the disappearance of the 30 Ak-47 rifles and five pistols from the army’s storage bond back in 2006, although acknowledging that it was the theft of the weapons which triggered it. A military jury late Tuesday night found Ross guilty on two of four charges relating to conduct and negligence of duty.
The first charge against Ross alleged that on or about February 13, 2006, without proper authority, he instructed Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Gordon to establish an arms store for personnel of the Ordnance Corps, an instruction, which he knew, or was reasonably expected to know, he had no authority to issue. He was found not guilty on this charge. The second charge alleged that he gave instructions to have weapon numbers assigned to soldiers of the Ordnance Corps for the purpose of issuing the weapons to the soldiers, and Ross was also found not guilty on this charge.
However he was found guilty on the charges of failure to ensure that the keys to the keys cabinet were booked in at Defence Headquarters’ Operations Room, a duty that he knew or was reasonably expected to know, and during the period March 2005 to February 2006, failure to manage an effective booking in/out system for the keys ledger.
The GDF had terminated an earlier court-martial of Ross following President Bharrat Jagdeo’s appointment of several officers to the top posts of the military last year. Ross was in charge of the army’s arms store when the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols were smuggled out some time in February 2006. Ross was the commander of the Ordnance Corps, a unit responsible for the storage and distribution of weapons in the army. He is the first senior officer to be court-martialed following the disappearance of the weapons, which had sparked widespread public concern.
Warrant Officer John Peters was the first officer to be charged. He was found guilty on an offence relating to the missing weapons, but now retired chief of staff, Brigadier Edward Collins used his powers under the Defence Act to remit the sentence. Peters, following a court-martial, was found guilty on charges of conduct and neglect to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. He was sentenced to one year’s detention and reduced to the rank of private. However, on August 16 Collins, utilizing the powers granted him under Section 111 (4) of the Defence Act 15:01, remitted the Warrant Officer’s sentence of detention. In effect, it meant that Peters no longer had to serve time in detention, but his conviction still stood, as did the sentence reducing him to the rank of private.
Additionally, the GDF had said that Peters would receive his benefits for serving in the force, but these would be in the rank of private. Fourteen of the AK-47 rifles have been recovered so far, most of them found in the hands of criminals connected to the Buxton-based criminal gang.
