Haitian men held with 379 rounds of assorted ammunition freed

Three Haitians who came to Jamaica seeking employment have been freed by the Clarendon Circuit Court of illegal possession of 379 rounds of assorted ammunition.

Steven Thomas, Robert Charles and Teddy Choi were freed yesterday after the court upheld a no case submission from their attorneys Dwight Reece, Hopeton Clarke, and Opal Pitter.

The prosecution led evidence before Justice Carol Lawrence Beswick that on January 2 the police, acting on information, went to a guest house in May Pen in the parish.

The three men were seen sitting on a bed in a room and they identified themselves to the police.

When the police searched the room they saw a knapsack tied to a grille behind a thick curtain in the room.

The knapsack was searched and the rounds of ammunition were found inside it. 

The men denied knowledge of the knapsack and its contents.

They said they came by boat to Jamaica to look for work and a Jamaican man took them to the room.

The police admitted that when they first entered the premises they saw a man running from the room but that man was not apprehended.

Defences lawyers, in making no case submissions, argued that the men should be freed because there was no evidence that they had knowledge, custody or control of the ammunition.

The judge upheld the submissions and freed the men.

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