Tagged man guilty in ammo case

(CNS): Elmer Wright (26) was convicted on Tuesday of possessing over 100 rounds of ammunition and a bullet-proof vest, after a judge said he was sure Wright had hidden the illegal items in the bushes off Crewe Road. Wright was arrested when the contraband was discovered and a fingerprint match was found on the bag containing the bullets. Police were also able to tie him to the crime through his electronic tag, which tracked him to the exact spot where the items were found a week previously.

Justice Philip St.John-Stevens said he had been convinced by the crown’s evidence and did not believe Wright’s claims when he took the witness stand that he had gone to the bushes, as he did frequently, to either defecate or to hunt for crabs and iguanas. The judge said “the defendant is a consummate liar”, as he delivered his verdict on the case, which he heard last week without a jury.

While this conviction is enough to put Wright behind bars for a few years, the defendant is awaiting a verdict in a separate much more serious case that could see him jailed for decades if convicted.

Wright was charged and tried over the course of last year in a difficult and twisting case relating to a terrifying home invasion which took place in Prospect in June 2017. While that verdict was being delivered by Justice Roger Chapple, who heard that case alone without a jury, it was interrupted by the major earthquake on Tuesday.

With people fleeing the courthouse building as it shook, concerns over security brought an end to the proceedings. Wright, who is considered high risk, was taken back to HMP Northward along with other prisoners whose cases were interrupted, and the courts were all adjourned.

The judge is now expected to deliver the verdict in full Wednesday.