Former sportsman jailed on gun-related charges

KINGSTOWN (CMC):

A former national athlete became the second sporting personality to be jailed in connection with the theft of guns from the Georgetown Police Station in June.

Magistrate Bertie Pompey Monday sentenced 26-year-old Meshach Dublin, aka ‘Shane’ and ‘3D’, to two years and five months in jail two weeks after Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett jailed former national footballer Myron Samuel, 28, to 18 months for possession of a Glock 22 pistol stolen from the station.

Samuel was also given until the end of this year to pay a fine of EC$3,500 (one EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) for possession of 15 rounds of .40 ammunition, or spend a further nine months in prison.

Dublin was sentenced to prison for possession of three firearms, including an assault rifle. The two two-year sentences for possession of two Glock 22 pistols will run concurrent to the sentence of two years and five months for possession of one M4 rifle – a prohibited weapon.

Defence lawyer Jomo Thomas told the court that it would be “a travesty almost begging for an appeal if the principal person in this enterprise gets a lower sentence”, a reference to Avi King, the man who burglarised the police station and stole the three firearms, as well as 305 rounds of ammunition.

On July 21, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne, sitting at the Serious Offences Court, sentenced King to two years and eight months in prison for his crimes.

Last Friday, at the Mesopotamia Magistrate’s Court, Dublin pleaded guilty to three gun possession charges, seven fewer that he had initially pleaded guilty to when he was arraigned before the Serious Offences Court on June 21.

In handing down his sentence, Magistrate Pompey said that he had put Dublin’s crime in the highest category, because an assault rifle was involved. He said that the aggravating features of the offence was Dublin’s concealment of the weapons, while the aggravating features of the offence were that one of the firearms was a high-powered weapon and the prevalence of gun crimes in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The magistrate said that mitigating features of the defendant was that he had no previous conviction, showed remorse for his action, was young, a promising athlete, he cooperated with the police, and had acted under intimidation.