Lawyers stage silent protest over mandatory sentence for gun offences

By Kimone Witter  

 

 

Declaring that they have exhausted all channels, members of the legal fraternity staged a silent protest outside the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston on Wednesday, calling for urgent amendments to Jamaica's Firearms Act.

 

The event, dubbed "Enough Is Enough — Silent Protest: A Fairer Firearms Act for a Safer Jamaica," was organised by the Advocates' Association of Jamaica and the Jamaican Bar Association, in collaboration with bar associations across the island.

 

The protest took place at the Supreme Court Complex in Kingston and the Western Regional Gun Court.

 

The attorneys are challenging the law's strict mandatory sentencing provisions, which they argue limit judicial discretion and can result in disproportionate outcomes.

 

President of the Jamaican Bar Association, Tenneshia Watkins, as well as veteran attorneys Peter Champagnie and Christopher Townsend were among the lawyers protesting in Kingston.

 

Ms. Watkins said the protest will be sustained if there is no response from the government.

 

"If this is the way we now try to draw the attention to get back at the table, we are open and willing to any kind of discussion but we change must come. It's well overdue. We will take further steps next week; if it is that we are not called to the table for a meeting or we are not hearing what we need to hear, then next week we will not be going into the court to do any matters at all. We will continue to withdraw our services until we get some attention and that the discussion begins. It can't be that a guilty plea is of no moment in this piece of legislation. You plead guilty 15 years. You got through a trial and you're found guilty, 15 years. That just makes no sense," she complained.