Archive for October 24th, 2010
Teenager gets three years over imitation gun
(CNS): Nineteen-year-old Justin Ramoon has been given a three year prison sentence for possession of an unlicensed firearm with intent. Chief Justice Anthony Smellie handed down the sentence on Friday following his guilty verdict the day before. Ramoon had faced charges of attempted murder after pulling a gun on Sven Connor. However, as police were never able to find the weapon or prove it was real, the charges were reduced. The judge told Ramoon that he hoped the teenager would use the time of the sentence to reconsider the direction his life is going in.
Ramoon, who has already served eight months in custody, denied the charges and at his trial he gave evidence that he was nowhere near the scene of the crime — Fairlawn Road, George Town — on 21 February, but at a cook-out at the house he was staying in George Town.
However, Connor, who had recently been released from jail after serving ten years for manslaughter, said there was no doubt in his mind that the man who tried to shoot him with a semi-automatic weapon was Ramoon. During the trial Connor said that he had seen “his face, plain as day …I saw him, I know him.”
Connor said he believed Ramoon may have been sent by a man named Roydell Robinson, who is related to Ramoon. Connor admitted he had been previously charged with the attempted murder of Robinson but those charges had been dropped.
In his verdict the chief justice said he found Connor to be a clear and unhesitant witness whose evidence was compelling before he found Ramoon guilty of the charges.