By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
A 20-year-old man who appeared in court yesterday on gun-related charges was denied bail ahead of his trial.
Valentino McKenzie stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt charged with one count of possession of an unlicensed firearm and one of possession of ammunition.
McKenzie pleaded not guilty to the charges.
After accepting the accused’s not guilty plea, Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt sought the prosecutor’s assistance on the issue of bail.
However, the prosecutor objected to bail, noting the accused had several pending criminal matters.
The prosecutor also said the 20-year-old had failed to appear in court for the pending criminal proceedings.
In response, McKenzie’s attorney explained his client’s failure to show up to court was due to his imprisonment, but this was denied by the prosecutor yesterday.
The defence attorney also asked the magistrate to impose reporting conditions for his client as opposed to remanding him to prison.
However, Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt noted that McKenzie had already been given reporting conditions, but despite this, he still found himself before the court.
As a result, bail was denied and the case was adjourned to May 24 and 26 for trial.
In a separate matter, David Moss, 39, and Kimberly Berrick, 30, of Jamaica, were also charged with firearm and ammunition offences yesterday after they were allegedly found with a black .38 Taurus pistol and nine live rounds of ammunition on January 21.
The two denied the allegations and the matter was adjourned to June 23 for trial.
Moss was granted bail at $8,500 with one or two sureties and also ordered to report to the Elizabeth Estates Police Station once a week.
However, Berrick was remanded to prison after the court found that she had overstayed her time in the country.
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