Four-year sentence handed down under new firearms law

A St Catherine man who is the first person to be sentenced under the new Firearms Prohibition Act was yesterday given four years and three months in prison for possession of an illegal weapon and ammunition after pleading guilty in the Gun Court.

Dennis Mundell, who was arrested last year in relation to a 2020 murder, was sentenced by Justice Calys Wiltshire to four years and six months each for unauthorised possession of firearm and unauthorised possession of ammunition. However, three months was deducted for time spent in custody.

The 28-year-old man, who is also known as ‘Gin-Sing’ of Spanish Town Road, Kingston 13, had pleaded guilty to the charges on December 16.

The sentence however has left a bitter taste in the mouths of the police who are shocked and disappointed at the sentence.

“Nobody would be happy and pleased with that,” a senior officer told The Gleaner while adding that the minimum sentence for gun possession under the act is 15 years.

“If there is a new act to say more stringent penalties will be handed down as a deterrent and yet the same sentences are being handed down, basically it was a waste a time to change and amend the act,” the officer said.

“Something has definitely gone wrong,” the officer added.

Mundell, who had been on the run for almost two years for an alleged murder, was held during an operation at a premises in St Catherine on December 2. An illegal firearm and ammunition were seized at the premises.

Celine Clarke, who was found at the premises, was also arrested, and similarly charged. However, the prosecution offered no evidence against her.

The judge in handing down the sentence took into consideration that the offender had no previous conviction and had pleaded guilty at the first reasonable occasion and did not waste the court’s time. She also factored in that he had cooperated with the police and appeared remorseful.

Justice Wiltshire started at 10 years but after doing her deductions for the mitigating and aggravating factors, the sentence was reduced to nine years.

It then dwindled down to four years and six months after he was given the maximum discount of 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, Mundell is also to face the court on a murder charge.

Allegations are that about 2:20 p.m. on Christmas Day in 2020, 21-year-old Romaine Atkinson was assisting a neighbour with dinner at Tewari Crescent, Kingston 13, when Mundell and another man approached and opened gunfire, hitting Atkinson multiple times in the head and upper body.

Mundell escaped and was on the run until the time of his capture.