Hung jury means second trial for bar owner

(CNS): A George Town nightclub owner who was charged with possession of an unlicensed handgun will face a second trial after a jury was unable to come to a decision at the end of his first trial last week. Kirk Munroe (40), who owns the Ultra Lounge, was remanded in custody when the jurors failed to deliver a majority verdict last Friday afternoon. The case against Munroe began when police retrieved a loaded unlicensed handgun from his George Town home, which he claimed he found outside his bar wrapped in a cloth. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a minimum ten-year term in jail upon conviction after trial.

During the trial, he told the court that after he found the gun he had panicked and taken it home, believing it belonged to someone who intended to rob his bar, given that there had been at least one break-in nearby around the time the gun was found last summer.

Munroe said he had also helped the victim of a street mugging, which could have made him a target. Police recovered the gun from his house after securing a search warrant based on undisclosed intelligence.