Former athlete jailed for gun, ammo possession

…tells Magistrate she “ain’t make no sense,”

A former Berbice athlete was on Tuesday jailed by Magistrate Renita Singh when he appeared at the Albion Magistrate’s Court after being found guilty on illegal gun and ammunition charges.
Curtis Fraser, 25, of New Amsterdam was accused of having a .38 revolver and five matching rounds in his possession at Hampshire Village on the Corentyne on March 09, 2017.
Fraser was previously convicted of armed robbery, and was released from prison days prior to this incident.
During the trial, the prosecution’s key witness, Detective Corporal Emanuel Davison, told the court that on the day in question, he noticed Fraser riding a motorbike, and he was aware that he was recently arraigned with attempting to commit a felony.
Davidson said that soon after, Fraser dropped the bike and entered a car which sped off the scene. He gave chase, and it was then he saw Fraser exiting the car and throwing the firearm into a heap of sand.
The court noted that Fraser had accused several Police ranks of beating him in order to get a caution statement from him. However, when the Sergeant took to the stand to testify, Fraser never put it to him that the Sergeant had beaten him to get a caution statement from him.
In a sworn statement, Fraser told the court that he saw a man in a car with a gun on his lap, and that he was ordered into the car, an instruction he followed.
The Magistrate related that the court did not believe the story given, and that the only independent witness in the trial was the driver of the car, whose testimony was similar to the one given by Davison.
“I believe that you had the gun in your possession and upon seeing Corporal Davison you threw it out, and I find that is why the majority of your questions were about possession. I think that you were under the misguided assumption that if you threw away the gun you were no longer in possession of the gun. However, the court found that it was in your possession when you threw it away. It was in your possession all the time. The gun was examined and it was found to be a lethal barrel weapon under the Firearms Act, and also there was found live ammunition inside the said gun,” Magistrate Singh ruled.
The Magistrate also found that the caution statement given to the Police by Fraser was free and voluntary. Singh noted that it contained details of the planned robbery.
“I find it quite strange that the Police would beat you to give a statement and will end up with all those details. Those are all things that you would have had knowledge of. You also said that the Police bought egg ball, Trill and water for you. I find it strange that the Police will feed you, beat you, and yet take you to the hospital to be examined. It does not add up. I find that you gave that statement freely and voluntarily, and that there was no beating involved,” she told Fraser, who was rudely interjecting.
“You just wan listen to the Police! Whatever the Police say you believe! You do what you want to do! The Magistrate ain’t make no sense,” Fraser told the court.
He was sentenced to three years on each of the charges. The court ordered that the sentences will run concurrently.