Firearm and ammunition charges; one freed and one convicted

Tyson Ysaguirre

Separate trials concluded on Monday for two men charged with Possession of Unlicensed Firearm and Ammunition. While the charges were the same, the outcomes were very different. Tyson Ysaguirre was busted on June nineteenth, 2009 with a handgun and seven live rounds of ammunition. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years each for the weapon and ammo but both terms are to run concurrently. Ysaguirre was charged after cops saw him remove the weapon from his pants waist and throw it behind a fence at the corner of Mix Avenue and Neal’s Pen Road. He admitted to being in the area where the gun was found but denied throwing the weapon. Magistrate Edd Usher, however, did not buy his story and convicted him.

Eustace Lewis

The other accused, Eustace Lewis, was much more fortunate and was acquitted of the offence. Police claim that they were on mobile patrol on the Southside of Belize City when they saw Lewis throw an object onto a piece of zinc for a fire hearth.  According to the two police officers who testified, they police went to investigate and saw that it was a point twenty-five pistol loaded with six live rounds of ammunition.  Magistrate Usher had doubts about the policemen’s story and Lewis was freed of the charge. But he still has another firearm charge before the court which has been adjourned for next month.