Showing off ‘imitation’ gun earns man 6 years in jail
(CNS): Kurt Stephenson Carter (31) has been sentenced to just under six years in prison after he was convicted earlier this year for possessing an imitation firearm with intent to commit a crime. Carter was caught because of CCTV evidence that clearly shows him showing off the weapon to people outside a George Town bar and firing it into the air twice. The handgun was never recovered and as a result, after a late guilty plea, Carter was charged and convicted for having an imitation rather than a real gun. But as the judge delivered his ruling Tuesday, he stressed how very realistic the weapon seemed and that, whatever it was loaded with, flashes appeared when it was fired.
According to the crown’s case, in the early hours of the morning on 30 December 2019 Carter fired the gun to intimidate, threaten and harass the people in the area. However, Justice Roger Chapple noted that while that would certainly have been the case for some of those present, the CCTV footage showed that several of the people outside Bananas Bar were evidently impressed with the firearm, and their reactions had clearly spurred him on.
The judge said that Carter was “displaying the weapon with apparent pride”, which had encouraged him to shoot the gun, and the group was caught on the security camera “revelling in gun culture”.
Although no one was hurt when the gun was fired, if it was real — and it certainly looked as though it was — it presented a real danger to people standing in the area and those passing by, as well as to traffic on the busy road, even in the early hours. Justice Chapple said Carter had no legitimate reason to be in possession of the very realistic looking firearm, or to be showing it off or to be firing it. He also said that the gun had not been recovered and remains in circulation somewhere in the community.
All of these issues aggravated the circumstances of the crime, and the judge further noted Carter’s long rap sheet, which began when he was a teenager in 2008 and includes a variety of offences, from drugs to violence. The judge said Carter had clearly chosen to live his life outside of the law.
Justice Chapple said that gun crime remains a serious issue in Cayman and there is a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years on a guilty plea for anyone in possession of a gun proven to be real. In this case, since the police have not been able to track down the weapon and the evidence relies on the CCTV footage and Carter’s own admissions, he arrived at a sentence of just over five years but added more time for the remaining part of a previous sentence that Carter was serving outside jail when he committed this offence, for a total of five years and ten months.
This included a 20% discount for his admission, which is less than the maximum one third reduction a court can give for a guilty plea because the evidence against Carter was overwhelming, Justice Chapple said.
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What an idiot! You have to be the stupidest of stupidest to get yourself 6 years for something that isn’t even real. Good job Genius!
Excessive (27/05/2021 at 11:30 am) states that the sentence is excessive and the cost to the Tax payers is too high…also adds that there is no improvement in character. Excessive wants a reduced sentence focused on community service, not a “mean” punitive sentence.
I agree with Excessive 100%. Hard-working, law-abiding citizens are such Meanies these days. How dare they expect all people to work, not to gangbang, rob and riot??? Meany conservatives. I believe that Excessive should take Mr. Carter in, house him, feed him, and ensure that he attends to his duties. Should this person reoffend again, I suggest that Excessive be jointly charged with Mr. Carter and be given a similar sentence upon conviction.
I am also of the opinion that we need to start deporting bleeding hearts such as Excessive, and provide them with a nice island where he/she/it can live in peace and harmony with other liberals and deported criminals, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya My Lord to their heart’s content.
6 years – so with time off for continuing to breath and mandatory parole after serving a fraction of the sentence that means he will be out when – next Thursday??
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes! Dude is too damn old to be still doing this type of stuff. Showing off an “imitation” (yeah right!) gun is not adult behavior. Is his development stunted??
No worries tha Dan soon b out making money as always 😎. Not on drugs like some u haterz.that live on government. The system is so f***d up… they jus target some people. Prob got the imation from one of his audiences whom were impressed. During Christmas time they rig fireworks. Unfair time that will b appealed. This man is smart and not a trouble maker. He always fresh and blinging. Hurry free up and show them all.
This government needs to grow up and stop wasting the courts time and destroying peoples lives over such nonsense. How dare they send someone to prison for a silly mistake and waste all that money when people are going hungry? I am sick to my stomach reading this, have they no integrity?
A silly mistake? You mean waving your illegal firearm around in public instead of keeping in hidden in your pants like a sensible gangbanger?
Disgraceful comment, this guy is shooting a gun real or not at bananas with various criminal history, clearly involved in drugs and gun culture. Personally I’d give him life.
Dan, silly mistake? Are you serious? Brandishing an imitation gun that also fires and makes a boom-boom sound, with flash, is no mistake. This man is being punished for living a life outside of the law that ended down a dead end road when he engaged in this stupid act. The only thing silly is how completely ignorant can one person be while continuing to live a lawless lifestyle.
Once again a late guilty plea having wasted the Court’s time in preparing for the case, this behaviour should add to his time.
I’m no criminal lawyer, but can’t we reverse the burden of proof in this type of case? If he doesn’t produce the gun and prove it was only an imitation, let the Judge infer it was real and sentence accordingly!
SmDFH
Kurt do the time and rest easy, Don’t let it break you. We all know the upbringing you had and the effect it had on you as a Man.
Yeah. It not only eroded his moral values so he couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, but it apparently made him so damn stupid that he thought he could fire off a gun in a parking lot without there being any consequences. This is not far off the level of stupidity demonstrated by that guy who left his drivers licence behind in the getaway vehicle when robbing Britcay. However I am sure that with his extensive experience of convictions you need not worry that it will affect your friend – none of the previous convictions seems to have affected him.
Would you say the same thing if the gun were real and he fired in the air, ricocheting off something before entering a persons head?
Would you say the same thing after he pulls out his big bad fake gun and someone was so scared they had a heart attack and died?
Would you say the same thing?
Excessive sentence. High cost to the Tax payers and virtually no improvement in character.
A much lower reduced sentence focused on community service would be more beneficial for society than a mean punitive measure.
You must be a troll … “the judge further noted Carter’s long rap sheet, which began when he was a teenager in 2008 and includes a variety of offences, from drugs to violence”. Sounds like removing him from society for 6 years (actually less than 3 given the 50% of sentence served release rule) would be extremely beneficial.
His last prison sentence was 6 years and it didnt make one difference
Maybe a 20% reduction of sentence for a guilty plea and an additional 50% increase for not turning over the ‘gun’ would have been more fitting!
Yep. He turns over the gun and its real, he gets 10 years reduced by 20% to 8. He doesnt turn over the gun, leaving it out there for his fellow criminals to use, he gets the benefit of the presumption its an imitation and gets 7 years as the starting point reduced by the same 20%. SMH.
100% increase for not turning in the gun.
Damn yahoo….SMH
muppet
6 years? We need to work harder to lock up all these lillies and bananas gun doting knife wielding menaces in society for life. Disgusting people
What about all the bar patrons he was demonstrating his gun to, did they not give evidence?.
Should have been convicted for a real gun. Your laws about imitation guns are a joke, as this case demonstrates.
Do you not understand that without the evidence, they cannot charge him with a real gun?? He could appeal it if he was charged with a real gone.
At least he got something rather than losing the whole case for lack of evidence.
Think before you type..
The man concerned should have been charged with having a real gun unless he could prove otherwise. Then when he was arrested and they found him in possession of his fake gun, he could have got credit for that.
Some men never really grow up do they!
Praise the lord it wasn’t caught on govt CCTV otherwise he’d have been charged with possession of a blurry item.
why risk it. I love guns. But i would never risk jail for one. Thats just beyond stupid.
The Judge hands are tied by the definition of the law. You can read he knows it’s a real gun but can’t say it or have his sentence reflect this as it would be grounds for appeal. But the sanction is still relatively stiff. The fact persons around Carter is reveling highlights the gun culture crept in to our community and unfortunately here to stay…
This dude is a complete menace to society and has been cloaked in his criminality unfortunately by those who should no better! How sad?
hope the silly hood-rat learns a lesson
Hasn’t learned since 2008 so chances of that seem slim.
Finally!!! Only sad thing he still will be living off people’s money.
Good, rot away scum bag
Due to remember we’re talking about the same idiot who shot his friend in the back in the car they were both trabelling in “accidentally” some years back…
6 years is a cake walk in Northward. Its back to smoking weed, playing video games, late night phone sex, competing to see how many stupid girls they each can get to come visit them and drop off goods/contraband, who can get the hottest kicks in and who can pose to be the toughest with the most mouth for who can do what when they reach back on the road… what a cycle this system has created. There is no fear of going to northward…virtually the best prison in the world😕