A man was given a three year sentence yesterday after pleading guilty to possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of dangerous drugs.
Also appearing in court on charges were ,twenty-one year-old Livingston Pratt, 27-year-old Valentino Pratt, their mother 56-year-old Georgiamae Gardiner and 21-year-old Chastity Scott who is the girlfriend of the elder Pratt
The group appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson Pratt facing one count of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition and one count of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.
Three of the defendants, namely Gardiner, Scott, and Livingston Pratt pleaded not guilty to all the charges, while Valentino Pratt plead guilty to all the charges.
The particulars are that on November 9th Drug Enforcement Unit officers, executed a search warrant on a residence situated at Gibbs Lane, and found one black sky CPX 9mm handgun, fifty- three rounds of ammunition, and a quantity of marijuana namely Indian Hemp with a street value of roughly one thousand dollars.
The family was represented by Taveras Laroda, Keith Bell and Ian Cargill.
During a plea mitigation for his client Valentino Pratt, Mr. Bell told the judge that his client had no previous criminal record, was gainfully employed and was from a church going family.
He added that the marijuana was for his personal consumption and he bought the firearm for self-defense as he was robbed twice once at gunpoint earlier this year.
In her summation of the case Chief Magistrate Ferguson Pratt said she took these things into consideration, but said she could not believe that the marijuana was for his personal consumption as they were wrapped in individual pieces of foil and added that because of the high prevalence of firearm related deaths in the country, a custodial sentence was warranted.
She also admonished Pratt to apologize to his mother, brother and girlfriend for dragging them through the courts, as she could not imagine how he felt.
The judge sentenced Pratt to three years in prison and a fine of $5,000.
