Miner Neon Howard, who was allegedly held with a sub-machine gun during a confrontation where his companion was shot by police, was remanded to prison on weapons charges yesterday.
Howard, 23, of 144 Friendship, East Coast Demerara appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on charges of having the unlicensed weapon and a quantity of matching ammunition in his possession at an East Coast Demerara restaurant last week.
At his arraignment at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Howard denied that on July 11, at Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, he had a Kel-Tec 9mm submachine gun while not being the holder of a firearm licence.
He also denied that he had nine rounds of Kel-Tec 9mm ammunition without a licence.
The prosecution’s case is that the police, acting on information received, en-countered Howard and another man at the East Coast Demerara restaurant, where they were acting in a suspicious manner.
Prosecutor Vernette Pindar said that upon seeing the lawmen, Howard’s companion whipped out a gun.
After witnessing this act, Pindar said, the police shot the man to his knee.
A subsequent search by the lawmen of a haversack which Howard was carrying at the time reportedly unearthed the submachine gun and ammunition. The court was told that the man who was shot has since been hospitalised under police guard and is likely to be charged.
In a press release issued on the arrest of the men last week, police said both the Kel-Tec 9mm sub-machine gun with nine rounds and a .38 revolver with two rounds were recovered.
Howard, who was unrepresented by an attorney, insisted that he is innocent of the charges levelled against him and was adamant that he knew absolutely nothing about them.
He also said that he was placed on about 10 different identification (ID) parades and not once was he identified as a perpetrator in the matters.
Prosecutor Pindar, however, explained to the court that the ID parades on which the accused was placed were in relation to another matter and not the present ones levelled against him.
She objected to the accused being admitted to bail, noting that he advanced no special reasons for his pre-trial liberty to be considered and pointing out the seriousness of the offence and the likelihood of him not returning to stand trial should he be granted bail.
After hearing submissions from both sides, the magistrate remanded Howard to prison until July 18, when the case will be called at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court.
