It was Richard DeLisle Arthur’s age, his previously clean record, the glowing testimonies of witnesses and a psychologist’s report which said his mental state would be impacted negatively by prison, that weighed heavily in his favour.
This was the view of Justice Randall Worrell, who ordered the 58-year-old, long-standing member of the Barbados Rifle Association (BRA) and a licensed firearm owner since 2003, to pay a fine of $30 000 in 12 months or spend six months in prison, for having illegal bullets at his home eight years ago.
“Mr Arthur has served in a shooting capacity for his country and I believe that may be the reason for him having the ammunition,” the judge said in the No. 2 Supreme Court yesterday.
“But it is a strict liability offence. Either one has a licence for these things or one does not. But it does not seem to be malicious. The act does not seem as if Mr Arthur was bent on any criminality.” (HLE)
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