BELIZE CITY–A 21-year-old man who resides on Ebony Street was found guilty in the Magistrate’s Court today of keeping an unlicensed firearm and unlicensed ammunition.

Stephan Anderson, who has had his share of remand time for numerous offenses, was sentenced to two 5-year prison sentences by Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith, who stipulated that the sentences are to run concurrently, which means that Anderson will spend only 5 years in prison.

On June 16, 2013, police on mobile patrol saw Anderson disposing of an object which turned out to be a Glock .9 mm pistol that was loaded with 8 live rounds.

At his trial, Sergeant Keith Clark testified that he saw when Anderson threw an object in an empty lot on Ebony Street, around 7:00 a.m. that day, when he and other officers were conducting mobile patrol on the Southside of Belize City.

Police say he threw a firearm in open lot on Ebony Street when he saw a police mobile unit approaching

According to Clark, the officers saw Anderson riding a bicycle on Vernon Street, but when he saw the police mobile patrol unit, he turned into Lakeview Street.

While he was on Lakeview Street, Anderson saw the police mobile on his tail, and turned around and began heading toward Sibun Street.

When he reached the intersection of Ebony and Mopan Streets, according to Clark, Anderson put his hand in the front of his pants, took out an object and threw it into an empty lot.

The police chased Anderson and caught him. He was taken back to the area where the police saw him throw the object, which turned out to be a handgun that was loaded with 8 rounds of ammunition.

Police then charged Anderson with the two firearm offenses.

In his own defense, Anderson, who was unrepresented by an attorney, told the court that he was in the area and that he got a call on his cellphone. As a result of getting the call, he put his hand into the pocket of his pants to answer his phone.

Anderson denied throwing an object into the open lot and told the court that he was innocent of the allegation that the police had made against him.

Inspector Egbert Castillo, the court prosecutor, called two police witnesses to testify before he closed the prosecution’s case.

The Chief Magistrate told Anderson that the prosecutor had proved all the elements of the offenses and that she found him guilty.

Smith imposed the two five-year prison sentence, and luckily for Anderson, the sentences are to run concurrently.