La Romaine man gets 5 years' jail for 2 rounds of ammo

A La Romaine man has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with hard labour after he admitted to possessing two rounds of .38-calibre ammunition found at his Pond Street home in 2023.

Anthony Ogeer was sentenced by Justice Nalini Singh.

According to the evidence, police officers executing a search warrant at the home and discovered two brass-coloured rounds hidden beneath a tabletop stove.

In determining a starting point, which she set at six years, the judge acknowledged that the statutory minimum was 20 years for a first conviction on indictment under the Firearms Act.

She also held that Ogeer’s prior firearm-related conviction – recorded summarily – did not trigger a higher 25-year sentencing tier, which applies when both convictions are on indictment.

In setting the six-year starting point, she said this was because there were only two rounds of ammunition and no firearm was found to suggest it was intended to be used in a criminal act.

However, Ogeer’s four previous infractions for possession of marijuana, for which he was either fined or reprimanded and discharged, resulted in him receiving an increased sentence of nine years.

“The prisoner’s criminal record demonstrates, firstly, a persistent pattern of unlawful possession offences that have escalated in seriousness, from cannabis-related offending to the present firearm-related conduct.

“More troubling is the fact that the instant offence was committed while the prisoner was on bail for the earlier January 2023 ammunition charge,” the judge said, although the 2025 ammunition conviction was not treated as an aggravating factor.

The judge then granted reductions for remorse and an early guilty plea, lowering the sentence to the final term of five years.

Under the court’s orders, the ammunition was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed. Justice Singh also ordered the Commissioner of Prisons to credit Ogeer with all lawful time served. He was also disqualified from holding a firearm user’s licence for the statutory period under the Firearms Act. She also ordered that Ogeer’s sentence be recorded in the criminal register and for the Police Commissioner and head of the criminal records office to be notified.