2nd gun earns man 12 years
(CNS): A 23-year-old man who hid a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his girlfriend’s freezer has been sentenced to 12 years in jail. Joshua Brown, who was found guilty of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition following a trial in March, was handed the sentence by Justice Panton on Thursday morning after the court heard that this was Brown’s second firearms offence. The George Town man had previously received a seven year sentence in 2007 for the illegal possession of a gun and had only been free for a few months before the police found a Colt 45 hidden in a freezer. The judge told Brown, who wept quietly in the dock, that his crime was extremely serious.
Pointing to the mandatory minimum sentence imposed by the legislators, the judge said it was a reflection of how extremely serious they considered possession of an unlicensed firearm to be. “In a case such as yours the court must — not may but must — impose a minimum of ten years,” Justice Panton stated. With no exceptional circumstances in the case to allow him to waive the mandatory minimum, the judge handed down the 12 year sentence.
Although there was no evidence in the case that Brown had used the weapon or had any intention of using it in a crime, his previous conviction added to the already lengthy sentence. Police also found a mask and gloves in the apartment where he was staying in Marina Drive at the time of the search.
The court heard that Brown had first been incarcerated on a firearms possession case when he was only 17-years-old and had essentially spent his adult life in custody, having only been released shortly before the raid on his girlfriend’s apartment by officers acting on intelligence.
On 8 September last year officers from the RCIPS’ armed response unit, the Uniform Support Group, had searched the apartment and found the loaded semi-automatic Colt 45 weapon wrapped in a white t-shirt in the freezer draw of the refrigerator in the kitchen. The gun was later linked to Brown as a result of DNA evidence.
Brown denied possession of the firearm and six rounds of ammunition and as a result automatically faced the statutory minimum ten years jail time mandated in law for the offence.
Category: Crime
Zero tolerance is the only way forward at this stage! For example, think about the new schools that are being built! Are we going to sit back and watch a couple of punks destroy and vandalize them?
I hope that zero tolerance is applied all the way around. School, work, laws – you name it.
Now if someone could just get all those idiot drivers off the road………..
There is no evidence that zero tolerance works. There is substantial evidence that it does not.
When drunk drivers get 18 months for killing people this is far to excessive
There is no comparison between the two crimes.
The important missing element is intention. If one intends to kill someone and then kills them whether in a car or otherwise the sentence will be a lot longer than 18 months.
Drink driving is so bad in Cayman that any conviction should carry a prison sentence of 6-12 months.
First of all you dont no too much about Joshua, Joshua dont have no Uncles, and dont forget we all have children. we some time try to Raise them the best we can, but when they reach at age them make there own decisions, not saying he is right just saying, we have preacher lawyers Doctors, Police ect ect going to prison, so dont even go there, talking all this bullshit about dog city ceneral ect ,ect, the place have nothing to do with Kids getting introuble, you have good people that come from those same areas that you are referring to. Last but not least I HOPE AND PRAY THAT UNDER YOUR BED OR YOU CLOSET IS CLEAN.
Either he was extemely stupid or he was setup. I am thinking the latter. He just spent 5 years for a gun offence and had plenty of time to think about not coming back to prision, ever. With more than two months to dispose of the gun,,,,,,,,why didn't he?
There is something inherently strange about this case. Or he is just plain stupid and likes prison life better.
Extremely stupid is an understatement. We are all safer with this man in jail.
He had a gun, gloves and mask. What do you think he was going to do with them?
Good Job to the people that were involved in solving this crime, one criminal off the road few more to go!
If the police are so useless why is this young man in prison? Someone is doing their job, a member of the publc must have given the police some clue and they did a good job….we need to talk more about what we know to the police and assist them in catching these crimminals …what do you think he had a mask and gloves and gun in the apartment for???? duuuuuuuhhhhhhhh…get real…add 2 and 2 you will get 4…….Cudos to the inteligence, police and the justice system that works when applied…..!!!
A single gun gets some seven years! But 32 tonnes of illegal explosives compounds imported onto Grand Cayman, a CI $500 fine. Unfreaking believable! Only in the Cayman Islands can such erroneous things occur. It is no wonder the country is in the turmoil its currently in.
I say considering all the poor legal advice the Government is obviously receiving or lack thereof, terminate the Attorney General posthaste! He is clearly out of his scope.
The Explosives Law needs updating.
How do you KNOW the advice is poor…remember just because advice is given, does not mean that the reciever of the advice will follow same…and in particular if second opinion of advice is then sought from an alternative source …sacred vessels come to mind….
It is time for a change and let it be quickly. The ship is being skuttled.
live by the sword die by the sword joshua, this is how some young people in cayman wish to live then so be it, no sympathy should have been 15 for second offence
i can't help but feel a little bad for this kid. I totally agree with the sentence and especially as this his second firearm offence then he should know how serious it is. I just find the idea of another young Caymanian being put in prison, after he just got out, sad. The people of this island need to know that guns aren't fashion assesaries, and they don't make you cool. They make you go to jail for a loooong time.
What is sad is the kid learned nothing.
7 years in 2007 he should be inside to 2014?
You only serve 2/3's of a sentence.
With this new sentence he may be out in 8 years.
Mr Lawrence,
Do you have a business, a wife and kids, loved ones. I think you have a few screws loose when you think its wrong to lock up a man who was sentenced to 7 years and only out of jail a few months later, caught hiding a colt 45 in his girl friends freezer. You sympathise with this culprit, this man that's spreading violence in our island. Shame on you, are you his buddy who is also scaring the hell out of us.
They need to search your house, car and neighbour hood too. People like you make me sick.
I know Brown, and I know where he grew up, where his family and friends are from. Honestly, his brothers, uncles, cousins and friends have all experienced being in jail over gun related/ drug crimes for years now, dating back to the 90's. When are we going to break the cycle Cayman? how many Caymanian men have spent their entire lives in jail over these crimes.. all these young men have the potential to be good citizens but they choose to rob and hurt their own country, their own people.
They choose to get kicked out of school, they choose to stay in the ghetto and rob and hurt people for a living, they choose not to set an example for their younger, brothers, cousins, nephews, friends in the community it is very sad to see young men go down like this- but hey they choose their life style. There is no reason why someone from "central" "dog city" or rock hole etc cannot grow up to be positive citizens, they may not have a silver spoon and they may have a lot of negative influence around but that should be the reason why they don’t want to stay in the ghetto.
All I know is, this has been happening for years, by time he is out I am sure one of his younger family members will be going thru the same cycle…,seriously gangster swag is so 1980's
Parents are a lot to blame seriously how about training your girls to act like ladies, instead of having them whining their young bodies and dressing hot at a young age…and training your boys to be gentlemen? take them to church..
I pray for our people
Thank you RCIPS, Prosecution Service and Judicial system. Let's see more of this. Convictions and tough penalties. It's time to clean up Cayman.
"also found a mask and gloves in the apartment " so that means he was linked with burglary or robbery? of course not. I tell you the laws we have here should be taken off the books. what if you know someone is out to kill you? what? rely on the police to protect you???? are you mad? police cant do sh*t! It is so sad that they would locked up someone for 10 years just because he has a gun! lord help us what is cayman becoming!
So why exactly would someone be out to kill you – hmmh? Is it maybe because you're dealing drugs, part of a rival gang, stealing/robbing someone, and/or possibly sleeping with his g/friend… I'm sure there are a number of similar reasons that I missed. But here's the thing Lawrence, maybe you ought not be engaged in those enterprises to begin with (btw, enterprises = activities). The only thing you have right in your post is that statement about the police not being able do do dooodooo – because you're right – they are useless. But let's not get carried away and try to justify illegal gun possession as a result of the incompetence of the KeyStone Cops.
Hey, the RCIP got this kid convicted and a 12 year sentance. They are not all useless. It is always a few weak cops that ruin it for everyone else, but I support them 100% and so should you.
For every success story there are 20 stories that reflect their true useless character. But yes, bravo for the few and far between successes.
…and lets face it. if someone is after him and turns up to do the job, he is not going to have time to pop round his girlfriend's house, go to the kitchen, defrost theu gun and then defend himself,if you felt you needed protection, yo would keep it with you always.
Be that as it may…there is no excuse for having a loaded unlicensed gun. He's been caught before and knew the consequences. No sympathy from me. Crying because he got caught..
When the Cops do thier job they get stupid comments like this. Sometimes it might be best to just say….THANK YOU.
You don't have to be involved in nefarious acts to be threatened or for your life to be endangered. Just an example from personal experience… My property was stolen. The police force was sticking to their usual useless track record. So I investigated myself and found my property. I reported this t the police and they did… nothing. So I walked up to my property with papers proving that it was mine and called the police from my cell. A cruiser arrived after 30min of waiting. Note that the area I was standing in was not a "nice" neighbourhood. When the cruiser arrived; the thief, who had no idea who I was, saw the car and bolted into the bush. While I was proving that the property was mine, I was subjected to calls of "You better watch your back!", "You'll leave it alone if you know what's good for you!" and "I hope you enjoy the time you have left!" These I considered empty threats at the time yet the officer made no move to quiet them. A day later I came home to find my front door lock broken with scrapings around the key hole. Thankfully, I had a deadbolt installed a week prior after my property was stolen preventing the criminals' entry to my house. Since then I have had several incidents in the early hours of the morning where I have called the police and waited 20-30 minutes for them to arrive while people have been attempting to enter my home and do me bodily harm.
Sometimes I wish that I was not a law-abiding citizen. If it was not the case that I respect the laws of this land I would have a 12 gauge ready and waiting for the first person foolish enough to try to harm my family. I feel like a coward clutching a kitchen knife in one hand hoping that these criminals never gain entry in which case I'll be forced to attempt to defend my family. I'm sure if they do get in that I won't fair too well as knife vs. gun only works in the movies. "Caymanian man gunned down in his home" will probably be the title of the article and there will be speculation on what this man was "involved" in order to make him a target of these criminals. Do remember that criminals are a creature of opportunity, they operate like school yard bullies. If they fear no reappraisal for their actions, or if they feel like they can get away with it, they will take until there is nothing left to take.
I agree that we need harsh sentences for those who break the law. I also believe that we as citizens need to beable to protect ourselves from the criminal element. Prevention only goes so far and long gone are the days where you had to be "involved" to be targeted.
Are you joking!! He git what this Islands need, a hard line against guns. Police did a brilliant job, and secured scientific evidence, well done to everyone!
"also found a mask and gloves in the apartment "
Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I had missed that on the first read. It should have been 20 years instead.
With all the crap going on in Cayman , you think it's ok to have an unlicensed gun. If it is just for protection why did he have a mask and gloves? Your comment was garbage
The mask and gloves must be for the snow days.
for getting in and out of the freezer
if someone is out to kill you, tell the police. if someone is out to kill you, you are up to no good and have reaped it upon yourself. if you have already been caught before with a gun and you get caught again, you have not learned, have scoffed at the law, dont give a f**k, and deserve everythig that comes your way.
the majority of us get by the legit way and have a good life. those that choose the opposite are lazy, reap havoc on society, don't get or want to be a part of normal society, destroy communities and lives (including their own) and are quite frankly pests to this country.
he made the choice, he can deal with the consequences. he knew full well.
its a fact that if you partake in illegal activities, you will be caught, maybe not now, maybe not next week, but you will be caught, either by the authorities or by death because of said illegal activities.
now we have to support another thorn in cayman for the next 12yrs, which will give him ample time to reflect, see how stupid his decisions were and hopefully do the right thing like the rest of us when he rejoins society.
When he rejoins society!?! BS!! Society is loaded with a bunch of Hypocrites as they will reject him like the others who tried to reform. They will forever be known as criminals and rejected by society. I am sure he tried getting a job when he got out the first time, but because of his criminal record he was rejected! Nobody is perfect, that is, you can fall asleep on the wheel while driving and kill somebody etc. What will you say about that now?? Bunch of Hypocrites, may God help you all!!!
Falling asleep behind the wheel of a car and killing someone has no comparison to someone who is invoived in gun crime, by way of robbery or murder. And if that is your mode of thinking you need some help.
He should have thought about his actions, its his own fault so he can deal with the consequences. End of story.
Well said my friend. Caymanian young men especially don't stand a snowball chance in hell in the Cayman Islands. Either they are being killed in car accidents or shot like animals but for sure they are dying fast and young. Caymanians are the biggest bunch of hyprocrits and that is why they are becoming like the dinosaurs, extinct on their own little rock. When these young men find themselves on the wrong side of the law they are forced to remain there for the entirety of their lives because no one wants to give them a chance but they will embrace anything that crosses the Atlantic and put them up on a pinnacle not knowing who they really were where they came from. In the meantime our young men are being harrassed by the police and doors of employment opportunity are slammed in their faces. While I am not condoning violence in any shape or form I must say that what is happening to our young Caymanians are unjust and bias. When they make a mistake, yes, they should pay the price but for heaven sake, we as a society should do what we can to help reform them, encourage them, teach them, give them the chance to prove themselves worthy of our society, they are our future of heaven sake. When the opportunity come for any outsider to travel and live abroad, they are going to take it and run with it and to hell with Cayman but where do our kids have to go. The TV anchor, Kenneth Bryan, he is a prime example of how, when given the opportunity, people can change. I know him personally and I know where he is coming from and I can honestly attest that growing up he was a troubled youth and look at him now, even contemplating running for government office, somebody gave him a chance, God bless them. I am so proud of him to see how he was able to overcome whatever generational curse that has befallen our childeren and made something of himself. No body sets out to be bad, no body chooses hardship, pain, suffering, proverty and a life of locked up like wild animals. Something went terribly wrong and we need to start praying and finding a ways to help the youth of the Cayman Islands or else we are going to have to start importing them also because at this rate, well, God have mercy on the Cayman Islands and all its inhabitants.
Wrong! Just continue to "warehouse" these monsters. Keep them away from me. They have no respect for society, were raised by poor parents and can be of no value to anyone. Keep them away from me.