Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - firearms

[2023]JRC090

Royal Court

(Samedi)

9 June 2023

Before     :

R. J. MacRae, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Christensen and Le Cornu

The Attorney General

-v-

Carlos Alberto Pinhao Aires

Edite Neves De Oliveira

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following a guilty plea to the following charges:

Carlos Alberto Pinhao Aires

1 count of:	Attempting to evade a prohibition on the export of goods, contrary to Article 61(2)(b) of the Customs and Excise Law 1999 (Count 1).
2 count of:	Failure to comply with the requirements of a firearm certificate, contrary to Article 2(1)(c) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 (Count 5 and Count 9).
2 counts of:	Carrying a firearm in a public place, contrary to Article 41 of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 (Count 6 and Count 7).
1 count of:	Unlawful possession of a firearm, contrary to Article 2(1)(a) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 (Count 8).

Age:  51. 

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

On 25 September 2022, Ms DE OLIVIERA and Mr AIRES were stopped by Customs Officers at Elizabeth Terminal.  They were in their car intending to travel on the boat to France and then on to Portugal.

 

Their car was searched, and the Defendants' baggage was removed and x-rayed.  The x-ray identified firearms stored in a suitcase.  The Defendants had not declared the presence of these firearms to Customs Officers, nor did they have an export licence to allow them to legally remove the firearms from Jersey (Count 1).

 

Ms DE OLIVEIRA removed a black padded case from inside the suitcase that had been x-rayed. Inside the black padded case was a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver (Count 3), a black 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol which was loaded (Count 6) and a 9mm magazine containing ammunition.  These firearms were registered to the Defendants.  Seven boxes of ammunition were also found in the suitcase.  Mr AIRES had a silver .38 Smith & Wesson revolver inside his brown satchel which was on the driver's seat (Count 7).  There was also ammunition for this revolver loose inside the satchel.  This firearm was registered to Mr AIRES.  In total 359 rounds of ammunition were found on the Defendants.

 

Two .22LR Parker Hale pistol suppressors (silencers) were also found inside a hessian bag, which had been removed from the car.  Mr AIRES stated that these suppressors belonged to him. Mr AIRES' firearm certificate only authorised him to possess one .22LR suppressor, not two. (Count 8)

 

None of these firearms nor ammunition were stored in a safe or secure manner, as stipulated in the conditions under which the Defendants held their firearms certificates.  The firearms and ammunition were not locked away and were easily accessed by Customs Officers and therefore could have been as easily accessed by members of the public (Counts 2 and 5).

 

The Defendants' home address was searched later the same day and 11 firearms were found in the attic situated above the main bedroom that was accessed with a pulldown ladder.  These firearms were found under loft insulation.  Some were wrapped in beach towels, and some were in their carry cases.  None of them were stored safely or securely as stipulated by the Defendants firearms certificates. (Counts 4 and 9).

 

3157 rounds of ammunition were also found in the Defendants' bedroom and office combined. None of this ammunition was safely or securely stored.

Details of Mitigation:

Early guilty plea, cooperative in interview, remorse, no previous convictions and references before the Court.

Previous Convictions:

None.

Conclusions:

Count 1:	180 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 12 months' imprisonment.
Count 5:	180 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 12 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 6:	90 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 3 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 7:	90 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 3 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 8:	90 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 3 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 9:	60 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 6 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Counts 1 and 5 to 8.

Total:  240 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 18 months' imprisonment.

Forfeiture and destruction of the firearms and ammunition seized sought.

Cancellation of firearms certificate sought under Article 48(1) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000.

Prosecution costs sought in the sum of £750.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:	18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.
Count 5:	18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years concurrent.
Count 6:	3 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years concurrent.
Count 7:	3 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years concurrent.
Count 8:	3 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years concurrent.
Count 9:	18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years concurrent.

Total:  18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years. 

Forfeiture and destruction of the firearms and ammunition seized ordered.

Cancellation of firearms certificate ordered under Article 48(1) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000.

Deportation not recommended.

Prosecution costs ordered in the sum of £750.

Edite Neves De Oliveira

1 count of:	Attempting to evade a prohibition on the export of goods, contrary to Article 61(2)(b) of the Customs and Excise Law 1999 (Count 1).
2 counts of:	Failure to comply with the requirements of a firearm certificate, contrary to Article 2(1)(c) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 (Count 2 and Count 4)
1 count of:	Carrying a firearm in a public place, contrary to Article 41 of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 (Count 3)

Age:  52. 

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

See AIRES above.

Details of Mitigation:

Early guilty plea, cooperative in interview, remorse, no previous convictions and references before the Court.

Previous Convictions:

None.

Conclusions:

Count 1:	180 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 12 months' imprisonment.
Count 2:	180 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 12 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 3:	90 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 3 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 4:	60 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 6 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Counts 1 to 3.

Total:   240 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 18 months' imprisonment. 

Forfeiture and destruction of the firearms and ammunition seized sought.

Cancellation of firearms certificate sought under Article 48(1) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000.

Prosecution costs sought in the sum of £750.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:	18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.
Count 2:	18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, concurrent.
Count 3:	3 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, concurrent.
Count 4:	18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, concurrent.

Total: 18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.

Forfeiture and destruction of the firearms and ammunition seized ordered.

Cancellation of firearms certificate ordered under Article 48(1) of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000.

Deportation not recommended.

Prosecution costs ordered in the sum of £750.

L. Sette Esq, Crown Advocate.

Advocate J. W. R. Bell for Defendant Aires.

Advocate P. G. Nicholls for Defendant De Oliveira.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        As Sir Philip Bailhache said in Milner v Connétable of St Helier [2006] JRC 178 at paragraph 15:

"The possession of a firearm is a privilege not a right.  This is not a community where the bearing of firearms is some traditional right.  A firearm is a dangerous weapon and the legislature has recently indicated, through the enactment of the Law, that the possession and handling of firearms are to be strictly controlled.  If the privilege granted to the holder of a firearms certificate is abused, it should be withdrawn.  The Connétable was entirely correct to take a very serious view of the careless way in which the Appellant approached his duties under the Law.  A key to a secure cabinet containing firearms should not be left in some accessible place in the vicinity of the cabinet.  Too many tragedies have occurred by reason of unauthorised persons, including children, gaining access to firearms which were not secured.  A statutory condition of the holding of a firearm certificate is that the firearm should at all times be stored in a secure manner."

We endorse those observations made seventeen years ago. 

2.        You were both holders of Firearms Certificates with the condition to which Sir Phillip referred on your certificates and you flagrantly disregarded your obligations as holder of those certificates.  Indeed, last year you attempted to remove firearms, one of which was an unlawfully held silencer, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the Island by motorcar without a licence to do so or even knowledge that a licence was even necessary.  Extraordinarily, some of those firearms were loaded and in one case, loaded so that you could, Mr Aires, if necessary, could fire the weapon, and the ammunition was held overtly and insecurely.

3.        Further, you left weapons and ammunition at home (after you had left your home for your holiday) in a wholly insecure manner.

4.        You packed your car and set off for the ferry, hoping to use your weapons on holiday and to do some shooting in Portugal.  You were in possession (in your vehicle) of three firearms, two of which were loaded, two suppressors or silencers, one of which, as we have said, was unlawfully held, seven boxes of ammunition as well as ammunition loosely strewn in the vehicle.  None of the items to which we have referred were safely secured or stored for travel or kept in such a way that prevented someone unauthorised from obtaining access to them.  One of the firearms, a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver, was on the driver's seat when you were stopped by Customs Officers, kept loosely in a satchel belonging to Mr Aires.  We agree with the Crown that the slap-dash way in which you transported the weapons gave rise to an increased risk of third parties obtaining access to those weapons and members of the public being put at direct risk of harm.

5.        Mr Aires, you lied to the Customs Officers, denying that you had further firearms in your vehicle when the first two firearms had been seized.  That was prior to the seizure of the loaded revolver kept in your satchel in the front of the vehicle.

6.        We have considered the guidelines from the English Court of Appeal decision in the case of R v Avis [1997] EWCA Crim 3423, which notes that the Court should consider what sort of weapon is involved when sentencing for a firearms of offence.  The English Court of Appeal observed:

"Genuine firearms are more dangerous than imitation firearms. Loaded firearms are more dangerous than unloaded firearms. Unloaded firearms for which ammunition is available are more dangerous than firearms for which no ammunition is available."

Well, you were travelling with loaded firearms that were in effect ready for use and a substantial amount of ammunition, and it is an extraordinary and aggravating feature of the offence that you, Mr Aires, told Customs Officers that you were carrying the Smith and Wesson revolver loaded in the front seat because you had previously been robbed in France.  That you had been subject to threats in France was something which your co-defendant confirmed in her police interview.  In other words Mr Aires, on the face of it, you were prepared to use this weapon if the circumstances arose against somebody else.  That is what you said at the time - although you now claim that you made this remark in panic.

7.        A search of your home after your arrest revealed firearms under loft insulation in the attic, wrapped under beach towels, including a handgun, four semi-automatic pistols, an air pistol, a bolt-action rifle and four other rifles.  Ammunition was kept insecurely in the bedroom amounting to a total of 3,157 rounds.  None of the ammunition or firearms were stored in a secure manner so as to prevent unauthorised persons from accessing them.  Nothing was locked away; this was in flagrant breach of your licence and your excuse that you were in a rush to go on holiday and that you thought that it might be better to hide the weapons in the loft we regard as wholly unsatisfactory.

8.        We have no doubt and we so order that your firearms and the ammunition seized by the police are forfeit and your licences to hold those firearms are revoked and cancelled.

9.        Furthermore, we find that, by reason of your conduct in this case, neither of you are fit and proper persons to be entrusted with a firearm; that you have no good reason for having firearms in the quantity that you had in your possession and that neither of you can or should be permitted to have firearms or ammunition in your possession owing to the danger that they may present to public safety.  In those circumstances, we hope and anticipate that you are both indefinitely to be regarded as unsuitable for holding a Firearms Certificate in Jersey.

10.      We direct that a copy of this judgment be provided to the Comité des Connétables and the Minister for Home Affairs.

11.      As to sentence, we take into account your previous good character, excellent references, genuine remorse and strong work ethic.

12.      We have no doubt that the custody threshold has been passed in your cases.  The total sentence should be one of 18 months' imprisonment and we have considered whether we can suspend that sentence and owing to your ages, you pleas of guilty at the first opportunity, the references we have been supplied with and other mitigation, we have decided on balance that those sentences can be suspended for a period of two years.

13.      So the sentences we impose are as follows:-

(i)        Count 1, 18 months' imprisonment.

(ii)       Count 2, 18 months' imprisonment.

(iii)      Count 3, 3 months' imprisonment.

(iv)      Count 4, 18 months' imprisonment.

So that in the case of Mr Oliveira is a total of 18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.

14.      Mr Aires, in your case:-

(i)        Count 1, 18 months' imprisonment.

(ii)       Count 5, 18 months' imprisonment.

(iii)      Count 6, 3 months' imprisonment.

(iv)      Count 7, 3 months' imprisonment.

(v)       Count 8, 3 months' imprisonment.

(vi)      Count 9, 18 months' imprisonment.

All sentences to run concurrently, making a total of 18 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.

15.      The effect of suspension of a period of imprisonment is that if you commit any other offence punishable by way of imprisonment in the course of the next two years then you will be liable to, in addition to serving the appropriate sentence for that offence, be subject to a consecutive sentence of 18 months' imprisonment, unless the Court on that occasion finds exceptional circumstances.  If you do not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment within 2 years from today then the suspended sentence of imprisonment will not be activated. 

16.      In addition we order you both to pay the costs of £750 each and you both have one month to pay. 

17.      We make no order for deportation. 

Authorities

Milner v Connétable of St Helier [2006] JRC 178. 

R v Avis [1997] EWCA Crim 3423.