Privy Council dismisses appeal in firearm case

The United Kingdom Privy Council has upheld the minimum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment which was imposed on a then 17-year-old Jamaican in 2013 for an offence committed with a firearm.

Tafari Morrison had pleaded guilty to illegal possession of firearm, robbery with aggravation and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was 16 when he committed the offences. On July 22, 2010, the Offences Against the Person Act was amended to provide for a minimum sentence of 15 years where the offence of wounding with intent is committed with the use of a firearm. Morrison appealed against the imposition of the minimum sentence but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. He then took the case to the Privy Council contending that the sentence was prohibited by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2011 and was therefore unlawful.

"The Privy Council's ruling today approves and sanctions what this Government has legislated that minimum mandatory sentences are not unconstitutional," Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck said while commenting on the judgment.

Chuck further reiterated that "the reason the Government intends to continue to impose minimum mandatory sentences is to send the clear message to criminals that the Government will put them away for a long time especially in murder matters."

He said a Joint Select Committee will consider whether the minimum mandatory sentence for murder should be adopted.

The Privy Council, in dismissing the appeal, said "the decision of the legislature to impose minimum sentences for children for certain crimes involving firearms in July 2010 demonstrates a positive legislative decision not to implement those features of the UNRC, (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) requiring detention of children for the possible shortest time."

Morrison had robbed a man of his cellular phone on August 28, 2012, and then fired several shots at him, injuring him in the back. The victim collapsed and was taken to hospital where he was admitted for a week.