Fingerprint and tag lead cops to suspect

(CNS): Elmer Wright (25) from George Town appeared on trial for firearms offenses Thursday, having denied possessing 120 rounds of ammunition and a bullet-proof vest found in bushes off Crewe Road in the summer of 2017. But the crown says he was in possession of the illegal items because his fingerprint was found on the bag containing the bullets and an electronic tag he was wearing at the time placed him at the location.

Armed police were out in force at the courthouse in George Town as Wright was transported to the court because he is considered a security risk by the authorities. Wright is also waiting on a verdict following a judge-alone trial in a home invasion case which wrapped up last year.

In this case, too, Wright’s fate will be in the hands of judge rather than a jury.

The crown’s case is that, acting on intelligence the police found the vest and bullets in bushes on Desmond Drive, not far from where Elmer Wright had been living while on bail, suspected of other offenses. When his print came up on the bag, police then reviewed the electronic tracking of his device and discovered he was in the spot where the bag was found a week before.

Wright was arrested but during his interview he denied the allegations, insisting he knew nothing about “any gunshots or bullet-proof vest”. He told police that he had touched many bags in his time around that area, as he often helped with garbage, and that he used the bush as a toilet.

“I sometimes takes a shit in them bushes and go about my business,” he told police. He said that even though he had family members who lived across the street in a home with toilet facilities, he didn’t always “want to use people’s toilets” and that everybody uses the bushes, as he saw “plenty shit in there”.

When the police pressed him about the vest and ammunition, Wright insisted he knew “nothing about them things” and suggested that someone was trying to set him up.

The case is expected to wrap up tomorrow afternoon. Wright is also expected to hear the outcome of his previous case early next month, several weeks earlier than had initially been planned.