Arnold Blanc a 29-year-old man from the community of Montin Grand Bay was slapped with five thousand dollars fine and also given a three-year jail sentence suspended for five years by Senior Magistrate Michael Laudat after he pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of a firearm without being the holder of a firearms license.
Brief facts
On Saturday, August 19, 2023, at about 4:30 am the police (Drugs Squad, CID) armed with a warrant went to the home of Blanc. On arrival, he was shown the warrant and they commenced a search for firearms and ammunition. During the search, they found in the closet 1 live round of 9mm ammunition. Asked if he had a firearms and ammunition license he said “no.”
He was arrested and taken to police headquarters.
Plea in Mitigation
His lawyer Gina Abraham Thomas in her plea in mitigation, told the court that her client is a first-time offender, is still very young, and begged for “a none custodial sentence.”
“He is the father of a son and he has just started operating a business dealing with livestock, he has never been involved in any illegal activities,” she said.
She begged the court to “temper justice with mercy.” “Take a chance on him to right the wrong and to continue living life to set an example for his son. He has pleaded guilty on the first given opportunity, he has fully cooperated with the police, a fine with time to pay is good,” Abraham-Thomas told the court.
According to her, sentencing is not just to punish but for rehabilitation of the offender, and in the case of her client, he would be better served if given a fine or even a suspended sentence to allow him to keep the peace and stay away from trouble.
Sentencing
Before handing down the sentence of the court, Magistrate Laudat stated that the public is concerned about the number of illegal firearms and gun-related offenses in the country. “It’s not in the public’s interest to adhere to the Sentencing Guidelines and so I will deviate from it when I was growing up, we used to settle our differences with pencils, now all you hear is pow-pow,” he said.
“I also blame the police for firearm offenses taking so long before it is dealt with before the court, too many illegal guns are on our streets, you need to tell me why the court must not impose the full sentence on you.”
Asked how much he can pay he said “$10,000 now if a forthwith fine is imposed and $6,000 tomorrow.”
“I am giving you an opportunity to fix yourself, you are fined $5,000.00 to be paid by August 31, 2023, in default 6 months in jail. You are also sentenced to 3 years in jail suspended for five years…you are not to be convicted of any firearms-related offenses and or charged for any firearms-related offenses from August 21, 2023, to August 21, 2028, in breach of that you will go to jail for three years. Go and live an honest life, you don’t need a firearm to live,” Magistrate Laudat told him.
His co-accused Nadege Lawrence who was also charged with possession of ammunition with a firearms and ammunition license pleaded not guilty to the charge and the prosecution offered no further evidence in the matter and it was dismissed.
Magistrate Laudat admonished her and told her “You have been given a gift by the prosecution…when you are given a gift, cherish it.”
The five thousand dollars fine was paid immediately.
my god. and allu expect to fix the gun crime violence when perps know is a tapnonbthe wrist the courts will give them. i suspect he had political connections…. mr magistrate you are part of the problem