The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

A MOTHER broke down in tears in court yesterday when her son was sentenced to five years in prison on weapon charges.

Two accused, Keith Higgs, 25, and Abigail Nelson, 21, appeared before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney on several arms charges.

This comes after they were arrested on February 7 when officers from the Firearms Tracing Unit, acting on information, conducted an investigation on Dash Express where they identified Higgs and Nelson collecting suspicious boxes and followed them back to their residence at Cape Street.

Once there the officers produced a search warrant and upon entering the premises, a search of the bathroom revealed a number of boxes containing eight firearms and several rounds of ammunition of varying calibres. These consisted of several firearms with the serial numbers erased, including Austria Glock .40mm, a Smith & Wesson pistol, a Taurus G3 9mm pistol, three Taurus G2C 9mm pistols and a prohibited Black JMT 7.62mm rifle. Only one of the firearms had an intact serial number.

All the ammunition seized at the property were unfired and consisted of 47 rounds of .22m bullets, 18 rounds of 7.62 mm bullets and 20 rounds of WMA 21 bullets.

After his arrest Higgs admitted in a subsequent interview he had received the guns from a female cousin in the United States through a courier service.

In court, Higgs faced the charges of possession of a prohibited weapon for the JMT rifle, possession of firearms with intent to supply, possession of ammunition with intent to supply, two counts of importation of dangerous weapons and two counts of conspiracy of importation of dangerous weapons.

Nelson faced two counts: one for the possession of firearms and the other for possession of ammunition as the other charges against her were withdrawn.

Both accused pleaded guilty to all the various charges against them, and their counsel asked the court for leniency. The lawyer cited their early plea of guilt as well as the fact that both accused were gainfully employed with no prior antecedents.

She told the court that Higgs was the father of a four-year-old son and that both her clients were remorseful for their actions.

Magistrate McKinney took these factors into account and spared both suspects the maximum sentence of ten years. As such Nelson was sentenced to two years in prison for both counts, to be served concurrently.

However, Higgs faced a steeper sentence as he was sentenced to five years for all the counts against him to be served concurrently, in addition to a fine of $20,000 or an additional year in prison for the prohibited weapon charge.

Higgs’ mother, who was present in court throughout her son’s trial, broke down in tears upon hearing the verdict. She left court visibly distressed as her son was taken back into custody by authorities to serve out his five-year sentence.

The two accused have the right to appeal.