R v Gordon (Collin)

• Jurisdiction: Jamaica
• Judge: P. HARRISON, J. A :
• Judgment Date: 03 November 2005
• Neutral Citation: JM 2005 CA 64
• Judgment citation (vLex): [2005] 11 JJC 0304
• Date: 03 November 2005
• Court: Court of Appeal (Jamaica)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

BEFORE:

THE HON. MR. JUSTICE P. HARRISON, J.A.THE HON. MR. JUSTICE PANTON, J.A.THE HON. MRS. JUSTICE HARRIS, J.A. (Ag.)

R

V

COLLIN GORDON

CRIMINAL LAW - Illegal possession of firearm

CRIMINAL LAW - Wounding

P. HARRISON, J. A :

1 This is an application for leave to appeal against a sentence of twenty (20) years imprisonment at hard labour imposed on the applicant on December 12, 1999, in the High Court Division of the Gun Court, on each of two counts for the offences of illegal possession of firearm and wounding with intent, respectively. We dismissed the application on May 2, 2005, and ordered that the sentences run concurrently commencing from the 15 ^th day of March 2000. These are our reasons in writing.

2 The relevant facts are that on December 18, 1997, at about 2:00 p.m. the complainant, Anthony Tyson stopped his car in front of his house at Big Lane, near Central Village, in the parish of St Catherine. He, along with the eye witness Althea Hylton, his girlfriend, and a brother of his, came out of the car. The applicant walked towards him and called to him, "Ronnie, come here." The complainant turned and walked towards him and said "What do you and my brother have?" The applicant responded; "Not what mi and you brother have, is what me and you going to have." The applicant then pulled a firearm from his pocket and pointed it towards the complainant's chest. The complainant noticed the "serious" look in the applicant's eyes and the twitch of his lip and consequently he stepped backwards and turned to his left. He heard an explosion and felt a burning sensation to his side. He fell to the ground. Thereafter he heard three clicks, he looked up and saw the applicant over him with the firearm pointing at his head. The applicant said "Bwoy me a go kill you." The eye witness Althea Hylton screamed to the applicant "Muchie, don't kill him, don't kill him Muchie." The applicant then turned and ran down Big Lane. The complainant was placed in a car and taken to the police station, then to the Spanish Town Hospital and then to the Nuttall Hospital in Kingston, where he was treated and remained for two days. The complainant had been shot through his right arm below the elbow and in the right side.

3 The complainant had known the applicant since 1974. They grew up together since the complainant was a little boy. The applicant also lived at Big Lane.

4 The trial court heard the evidence of the complainant, the eye...