15 years for Munster Road ex-cop
Published:Wednesday | July 27, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Police Sergeant Russell Robinson, who was the mastermind behind the theft of guns and ammunition from the police armoury last year, has been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.
Some policemen who turned up yesterday at the Gun Court to hear the outcome remarked that the sentence was "too light".
Supreme Court judge Horace Marsh had found Robinson guilty last Wednesday on 18 counts of illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession of 9,540 rounds of ammunition at the end of a lengthy trial.
He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment each on the firearm charges and 10 years' imprisonment on the ammunition charge. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Robinson's attorney Valerie Neita Robertson said she planned to appeal on the grounds that the judge should have upheld the no-case submission she made at the end of the Crown's case.
Robertson said the judge failed to address his mind to the numerous inconsistencies and discrepancies in the Crown's case. One of the discrepancies she referred to was the evidence given by policemen that the key to the minibus in which the guns were found was handed to them by Robinson. She said the key for the minibus was labelled "taken from Pellington".
Garnett Pellington was the businessman who, along with two other civilians, was charged jointly with Robinson. They pleaded guilty last year and were given prison sentences ranging from 10 to 13 years.
The Crown, represented by Dirk Harrison, deputy director of public prosecutions, had led evidence that in February last year Robinson was found in possession of the guns and ammunition which belonged to the police armoury where he was assigned at the time.
Main witnesses
Four policemen, who were the main witnesses for the Crown, testified that they were on Munster Road, Kingston 2, when they saw a minibus which was parked at Pellington's premises. They said Robinson told them that the police were "mashing" up his things. The policemen said Robinson pointed to the minibus and said what was inside the minibus was worth more than his life. The policemen went to the minibus and found that it was locked. They asked Robinson for the key and he gave it to them.
When they opened the minibus they found the guns and ammunition inside. Robinson was held and his firearm taken from him. He begged the policemen to release him and let him run away or return his firearm so he could shoot himself.
Robinson said in an unsworn statement from the dock that he was not in possession of the guns and ammunition. He said it was a grand conspiracy by some members of the Police High Command to set him up.