By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAN whose bank card was found at the scene of a firearms seizure was convicted in Magistrates Court yesterday of a dozen firearms-related charges.
Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt said it would be an “affront to common sense” to rule the discovery of 31-year-old Jamal Gaitor’s Royal Bank of Canada card at the scene as a “coincidence”.
“The court found that the presence of this card had the probative value to bolster the ID of the defendant,” the chief magistrate said.
She added that this “strong circumstantial evidence”, along with the “credible” and “corroborated” evidence of the six Crown witnesses, had proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt that Gaitor was guilty of the crimes they accused him of committing on October 22, 2010.
Before the judge could pass sentence on Gaitor, however, his lawyer Cheryl Bazard requested that the court be assisted by a probation report.
Ms Bazard, who said her client intended to appeal, was present for all of his proceedings since his arraignment in 2010, when he was granted $25,000 bail.
The PLP senator added that the court should have the full background of her client, who has no known antecedents.
Though the chief magistrate was of the view that a probation report would not assist the court in sentencing, she agreed to the request and adjourned the matter to November 10.
Gaitor, now on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison, was convicted of seven counts of possession of an unlicenced firearm and five counts of possession of ammunition.
Drug Enforcement Unit officers acted on a tip which led them to undertake surveillance in bushes opposite a house off Bernard Road.
They observed a man, allegedly the defendant, get out of a truck and enter a split-level house. Moments later, the man came out with a number of boxes and began putting them on the truck.
The officers approached him and identified who they were, but he ran, discarding his shoes and trousers in the process before escaping into the bushes.
Officers found a work ID and a Royal Bank of Canada card bearing the name “Jamal Gaitor”, which they took into custody with the boxes.
A search of the boxes revealed an Austria glock .45 pistol, a 9mm Taurus pistol, three .38 Taurus revolvers, a HI Point .380 pistol as well as a High Standard .22 revolver. Officers also found more than 500 rounds of ammunition.
The boxes, according to evidence, were brought into the capital through a flight carrier and had been delivered to the home.
Gaitor had denied the allegations, but opted to remain silent when called on to defend himself. He called no witnesses.
Commenting has been disabled for this item.