3 years’ jail for gun, 10 rounds ammo

A MAN who was found with a gun and ten rounds of ammunition while drinking in a bar on Saturday failed to convince a magistrate yesterday that he had them to protect him from bandits, and was jailed for three years.

Adesh Adhar, 28, of Tulip Drive, Pleasantville, near San Fernando, was also ordered to serve nine months for the ammunition.

He pleaded guilty before senior magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine after being arrested on Saturday at about 5.40 pm at Trenders Bar, on Cipero Street.

Prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan related what happened. The police confronted and searched him and found the gun and the magazine containing the ammunition tucked in his waist.

Seedan said when confronted, Adhar replied, “Boss, I have that for meh protection.”

Attorney Dane Halls pleaded with Antoine not to send him to jail, saying it was his first offence. Adhar had been shot at, he said, and in another incident, he witnessed his mother and sister being robbed of their vehicle. Adhar transports goods in his vehicle, the attorney added, and is often fearful for his life.

Seedan acknowledged that Adhar had had no previous brush with the law.

However, he told Antoine that gun violence was too prevalent these days.

The prosecutor wondered why, if Adhar’s objective was to protect himself, he was in a bar with a gun.

“Imagine consuming alcohol and being under the influence, what the consequences could be? “ Seedan asked.

Antoine commented that guns are too prevalent and the courts are unconvinced when people claim they keep guns for their protection.

“And ten rounds?.” she asked.

She ordered Adhar to serve the jail term with hard labour. It is to run concurrently with the nine months.