Derek Achong

The con­vic­tions against two sib­lings from Mar­aval for pos­ses­sion of arms and am­mu­ni­tion were quashed yes­ter­day by the Court of Ap­peal. Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie and Ap­peal Court judge Paula-Mae Weekes quashed the con­vic­tions of Wyn­stead Moore and his broth­er Mar­lon, an ad­ver­tis­ing ex­ec­u­tive, both of Scott Dri­ve, Sad­dle Road, Mar­aval. The broth­ers were ar­rest­ed and charged on Jan­u­ary 21, 2007, with pos­ses­sion of a shot­gun and two rounds of am­mu­ni­tion at their home. They were lat­er found guilty in the Port-of-Spain Mag­is­trates' Court by Mag­is­trate Ava­son Quin­lan who sen­tenced them to 18 months in prison with hard labour.

Dur­ing yes­ter­day's ap­peal, the Ap­peal Court quashed Mar­lon's con­vic­tion and sen­tence for the of­fence and or­dered that Wyn­stead be re­tried for the of­fence. Mar­lon's lawyer, Evans Welch, pre­sent­ed sev­er­al grounds of ap­peal to the court on be­half of his client. Welch ar­gued that Quin­lan erred by not con­sid­er­ing his client's de­fence that he had no knowl­edge of the pres­ence of the gun in the house which was ac­cept­ed by the State. Wyn­stead was rep­re­sent­ed by at­tor­ney Mario Mer­ritt, while Dana See­ta­hal SC ap­peared for the State. (DA)