A St Michael man who claimed he found an unlicensed firearm while working at the National Botanical Gardens has been fined $30,000 to avoid a prison sentence after a judge dismissed his account as unbelievable.
Shakeem Romario Clarke of Deanes Village, Hindsbury Road, had previously pleaded guilty to having a Glock .40 calibre semi-automatic pistol along with 12 rounds of ammunition on July 19, 2022.
At his sentencing hearing, Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens urged the court to consider a fine for the offences. But Justice Christopher Birch had one question: where did he get the gun?
“My instructions are that while at work one day cleaning the Botanical Gardens, he came across a bag,” she said.
“It seems easier to find a firearm than salvation. It seems easier to find a firearm than law-abiding items. Everybody finds it in a bag, a block of concrete and under a bush. Nobody else finds them but an accused,” Justice Birch said, before turning to Clarke and saying: “I do not believe you for a second.”
Insisting that the pistol was a “sophisticated piece of machinery”, the judge then questioned him on why he had not turned in the weapon to the police.
“It was my bad to not take it in when I find it. I tell myself ‘this here clean’,” Clarke said, adding that he had it for three weeks before police arrived at his door.
Justice Birch determined that 10 years was an appropriate starting point for the offences, before reducing it by one year for mitigating factors, one-third for his plea and 386 days Clarke had been remanded.
He was left with 1 814 days to serve in prison on both sentences to run concurrently.
Agreeing with prosecutor State Counsel Eleazar Williams and Mitchell-Gittens that heavy fines would meet justice, Justice Birch ordered Clarke to pay $20 000 for the firearm, $10 000 of which was due immediately, and $10 000 for the ammunition.
He has to pay the balance in five months or face the custodial sentence.
“I am sorry for having a firearm. I was wrong for it. I did not come to waste the court’s time,” Clarke told the court before the sentence was passed.
His case will be reviewed on November 20.
(JB)
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