A Rio Claro man was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail yesterday for possession of a homemade shotgun and ammunition.
Unil Philips, 43, pleaded guilty on July 3, 2015 to illegal possession of a 16-guage shotgun and six rounds of ammunition on October 6, 2007 at Debe.
Philips told police he had the shotgun and ammunition in his car as protection against his wife and brothers-in-law.
Philips was represented by attorney Rekha Ramjit when the matter came up for sentencing in the San Fernando Second Criminal Court before Justice David Harris yesterday. Attorney Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal appeared for the State.
Speaking on her client’s behalf, Ramjit asked Harris to consider Philips had not wasted the court’s time and admitted to the offences.
She said there had been no victim in this offence and the arms and ammunition found on Philips was not used to commit any crime.
However, Dougdeen-Jaglal said the aggravating factors in the case were the seriousness and prevalence of these kinds of matters before the courts.
In passing sentence Harris said he had taken all the factors into consideration and the sentence would start at nine years.
He granted a one-third discount, bringing the sentence down to six years. He also granted Philips 293 days off the six years for time spent in remand.
The judge ordered that Philips sentence start from July 3, the day he pleaded guilty.