A 39-year-old George Town man appeared before Summary Court on Friday, 6 Aug. to answer gun charges.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service said the man was arrested and charged after officers retrieved an unlicensed, loaded handgun, an extended magazine clip and several rounds of ammunition from his house on 3 Aug.
When applying for bail, his attorney, Clyde Allen, told the court there was no denying that his client was in possession of the gun. However, the circumstances that led to the possession were more nuanced, Allen said.
“My client was in the process of closing up and securing his business in the early morning hours of Thursday… when he came across the handgun which was wrapped in cloth,” said Allen. “When he found the handgun, he was scared and didn’t know whether someone had left it there with the intentions of returning and using it to rob him, or his business.”
Allen said his client took the gun home and placed it on his bedside table.
“He was so afraid that he did not sleep at his house that night,” said Allen.
Magistrate Adam Roberts was told the defendant’s fear was worsened by the fact that he had previously assisted another person, who was robbed at gunpoint a short distance away, to report the matter to police.
“When police attended my client’s business, he told them that he recently found the gun, and directed them where to find it,” said Allen. “When they entered his house, as the pictures will prove, the gun was not concealed, it was still in the open, right where he said it would be.”
Prosecutor Denise Samuels-Dingwall urged Roberts against granting bail. Noting that the defendant had the means to leave the jurisdiction should he require, and that given the rise in gun crime and the defendant’s fear for his own safety, it would be in the best interest that bail not be granted.
The magistrate denied bail, and adjourned the matter until next week.
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