25 year-old Andrew Baptist, a supervisor at the Marion Jones Stadium; and his girlfriend, Tricia Usher, a 26 year-old cashier, have both been remanded to Belize Central Prison for allegedly being in possession of a prohibited firearm. The Gang Suppression Unit raided Baptist's Sandhill home and found a flare gun which is now a prohibited firearm under the Firearm Act.
According to police, the GSU conducted a search on Baptist's home yesterday at around 1:30 p.m., after they received a tip that a man was flushing what appeared to be a weapon down the toilet.
When they entered the house and asked Baptist if he had anything illegal to declare, he said no. They eventually found a black Orion Brand flare gun in the house, and as a result, they arrested and charged him with keeping a prohibited firearm.
In the court room of Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer, Baptist initially pleaded guilty to get his girlfriend discharged, but he eventually withdrew his plea because he said that he didn't agree with all the facts of the case as the police documented it.
Baptist said that he did indeed declare the flare gun to the police, which he didn't know was now illegal. He also said that it was issued to him by BATSUB when he worked for them in 2006, but the flare gun has since been written off as not working for years now.
Baptist also told the court that when the officers asked him if anyone else lived at the home, he told them that Usher, his girlfriend, also stays there periodically, but she lives next door. That's when they went to her workplace, arrested her, and charged her for the very same offence.
Instead of serving a mandatory, minimum 3 year sentence, he and Usher, who also pleaded not guilty, have been remanded until April 26, their next court date.
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