Courts face mounting gun cases

(CNS): Four people appeared in court Friday facing firearms charges and other offences in a mounting list of gun cases reaching the courts. Although legislators introduced a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence more than a decade ago, gun crime has continued to increase. The Grand Court’s criminal docket is dominated by illegal firearms cases, despite the hefty punishment, and four trials were set Friday for next year. The cases all involved allegations of weapons possession, which were denied by all the defendants.

Joel Jayson Brown is charged with possession of a 9mm semi-automatic pistol following an incident in the industrial area in March, when police recovered an unlicensed gun. Kevin Curtis Bowen is charged with attempted murder, causing GBH and possession of an unlicensed shotgun following a shooting in Rockhole in August; and Sven Connor was charged with possessing an imitation gun and threatening behaviour after a report in Windsor Park in George Town in October but police did not recover any firearm.

All three men denied the charges and are scheduled to face trial next year.

Adrian Gea was charged with robbery and possession of an imitation gun for a stick-up at a jewellery store on Seven Mile Beach in which a firearm was used. Madeiny Rodrigues-Ebanks-Pol was charged with robbery for the same incident. (See related story)

They were bailed to return for trial in May.