Twenty nine year old Hassan Valencio, charged with keeping a prohibited firearm was sentenced to 5 years today by the chief magistrate, Margaret McKenzie after he was found guilty of the charge.
Chief Magistrate McKenzie said the offence is more serious that the ordinary firearm because a prohibited firearm is not one he was supposed to have at all. The incident occurred around 11:30pm on January 29, 2009. The police received a report of a domestic violence dispute in which Valencio was involved, they picked up Valencio in Taylor's Alley and Valencio took them to 19 Central American Boulevard where the dispute was.
Two police officers testified that Valencio also showed them where a homemade firearm, 17 inches long, was located. As a result, Valencio was taken into custody and charged. Valencio denied that he took the police to where the firearm was. Valencio has another charge for firearm for which he had been remanded into custody on February 27, 2011.
