A man who pleaded guilty to possession of a handgun and ammunition will spend the next four years behind bars.
Jameko Ash, of First Street, The Grove, is the first person to be sentenced to prison since Parliament reintroduced statutory minimums for firearm offenses.
In 2001, the FNM government abolished minimum sentences with Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham saying they had made a mistake by removing the court’s discretion.
Ingraham said in Parliament recently that the government decided to reintroduce mandatory minimum sentences because unusual times call for unusual measures.
Before passing sentence, Gun Court Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt told Ash that it was the wrong time to be found with a firearm or ammunition as Parliament had intervened because of an increase of violent crimes using firearms.
