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By Clinton McGregor
A 25-year-old man was freed of ammunition charges on Monday after his attorneys accused the sole police witness of giving conflicting testimony before the Gun Court.
The accused, Nico Hines, was charged in April this year after the police conducted a raid at his residence in Grants Pen, St. Andrew and seized more than 50 rounds of ammunition.
He was freed after his attorneys, King's Counsel Peter Champagnie and Samoi Campbell, invited the trial judge to stop the case on the basis that the sole witness admitted to being dishonest.
Hines, a resident of Grants Pen, St. Andrew, was charged by the police for being in possession of and stockpiling 51 rounds of ammunition.
According to the police who charged him, the discovery of the ammunition was made in the ceiling of Hines' bedroom on April 3, 2024 following the raid.
In giving evidence in the Gun Court on Monday, the police witness also claimed that a magazine casing was found in another part of the ceiling of Hines' bedroom after a further search.
But under cross examination, Mr. Champagnie confronted the policeman with station diary entries that were made by him, making reference to the find of the magazine casing in the tenement yard of Hines near a fowl coop.
In another diary entry it was noted that the magazine was found buried in the yard.
When pressed by the senior defence attorney as to whether what he wrote and signed to in the station diaries were true, the policeman stated that they were untrue but that he was forced by another police officer to do it.
When asked further by Mr. Champagnie if he would agree that knowingly making a false entry in station diary was dishonest, he admitted that it was.
Hines had denied having anything illegal in his room and claime police made the discovery of the ammunition and magazine buried in the tenement yard and that he did not know of their existence.
In bringing the case to a halt, the trial judge, Justice Vaughn Smith noted that the policeman's evidence during cross examination was left in tatters, and it was an embarrassing moment for the honest members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
If found guilty, based on the new firearms law, Hines would have been facing 15 to 20 years in prison.
He had been in custody a few months before being offered bail.
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