Two others already served their sentence
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – JUSTICES of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal on Thursday (Jun. 9) reduced the sentences of two men, one who was convicted for illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition, while the other was convicted for illegal possession of ammunition.
The Justices had also allowed the appeal of two men and pronounced that they were free to go home based on the time served in prison.
The two men who had their sentences reduced are Terrance ‘JT’ Ritchen of Newtown and Chase Hamilton of Hanley’s Road, Nevis.
Ritchen had his sentence reduced from seven years to five years. He had appeared in court on Thursday, October 29, 2015 and pleaded guilty to the offences of illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.
According to the facts of the case, during an operation in the South East Peninsula on Tuesday, October 27, 2015, at approximately 1:25 p.m. members of the Special Services Unit had stopped and searched a vehicle with registration number PA 4952.
The search yielded one .40mm semi-automatic pistol with a magazine containing eight matching rounds of ammunition. According to the police, Ritchen was in the vehicle with two other persons - Ivette ‘Ibo’ Richards of Jessups Village, Nevis, owner and driver of the vehicle, and Eric ‘Jun-Jun’ Thompson of Ponds Pasture.
The trio was arrested and charged with the offences. However, on appearance in court, Ritchen was convicted and sentenced while Richards and Thompson were freed of both charges.
According to a police report, sometime last year, Hamilton was arrested in the Bath Village area after he was found in possession of a quantity of ammunition for which he had no licence.
He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to serve five years and seven months at Her Majesty’s Prison. However, the Justices allowed his appeal and reduced his sentence by seven months.
According to a police communiqué, the two men who were set free on the grounds of time served are Andrew Hicks and Cameron Wilkinson.
Wilkinson was convicted and sentenced for unlawful Carnal knowledge while Hicks’ offence was larceny.
The communiqué however did not provide information on when these two men had committed their respective offence, when they were sentenced and what sentences they were ordered to serve.
