High-powered rifle lands city resident behind bars
A 52-year-old city resident was yesterday remanded to prison after denying an illegal firearm charge instituted against him.
David Nelson, of 190 Church Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and denied the charge which stated that on November 9 at Quamina Street, he had in his possession a .223 AR rifle when he was not a licenced to carry such a weapon.
Nelson was represented by Attorney-at-law Adrian Thompson. The lawyer told the court that his client has been a licenced firearm holder since 2008 and is the holder of a Taurus pistol.
The lawyer added that the rifle was found in his client’s vehicle and at the time of the search, there were multiple occupants in the said vehicle.
Thompson told the court that his client was unaware of the weapon being in his vehicle since it was concealed in layers of plastic and was under one of the car’s seats.
However facts presented by Police Prosecutor Sanj Singh differed from those of Nelson’s attorney.
The prosecutor told the court that on the day in question police acting on information received proceeded to Quamina Street where they conducted a search on Nelson’s vehicle and under the seat they discovered the unlicensed rifle.
Nelson was then arrested and taken to the station where he gave the police a written caution statement accepting ownership of the firearm, saying that he bought it from a Brazilian man, and was in the process of selling it.
Prosecutor Singh strongly objected to bail being granted to the defendant citing the serious nature of the offence and the penalty the charge attracts.
The prosecutor’s objection was upheld and Nelson was remanded to prison.
The father of three was instructed to make his next court appearance on December 1.
Kaieteur News has learnt that the Quamina Street, Georgetown home of a former senior government official under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was searched by ranks from the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s Major Crimes Unit around 14:30 hrs on Thursday.
Nelson was reportedly working for the former government official. In fact, he was confronted by lawmen in front of the official’s home. The weapon was then discovered under the back seat of his car.
The ranks reportedly received intelligence information and immediately went to the location and arrested Nelson. Based on the information the police have, the suspect was supposed to meet with someone at the location. He is said to have claimed was going to sell the weapon for $6M.
When Nelson was arrested and ranks learnt of the linkage between him and the former government official, they searched the official’s home, but did not find anything incriminating.