Security guard withdraws case against FLA after gun licence restored
Published:Tuesday | June 20, 2023 | 1:01 AMBarbara Gayle/Gleaner Writer
A security guard whose firearm licence was revoked in April 2021 by the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) withdrew his application last week in the Supreme Court for leave to go to the Judicial Review Court shortly after being informed that the Review Board had allowed his appeal and his licence was restored.
But his lawyer, Hugh Wildman, said yesterday that the Firearms Act mandates that the appeal against a revocation of licences must be reviewed within 90 days and, in many cases, that was not being done.
Wildman said that, in the case of the security guard, he waited for two years before he got a response from the Review Board and that was on the very morning that his application was set for hearing before the Supreme Court.
Wildman said his client, who is also a businessman, had taken the matter to the Supreme Court in August 2022 seeking leave to go to the Judicial Review Court to quash the decision to revoke his licence.
The FLA, the Review Board and the Minister of National Security were the respondents in the matter.
Wildman said the failure on the part of the Review Board, to abide by the law, has resulted in persons being put to great expense to take matters before the Supreme Court.
The security guard, who is a former member of the Jamaica Defence Force, said in his affidavit that he was at work at a premises in Montego Bay in January 2018 when an intruder came on to the premises about 4:30 a.m. and fired a shot. The security guard took cover and, based on his military training, he fired his gun twice in the ground to scare the gunman. The police interviewed him, took his firearm and when he made repeated requests for his firearm, the police told him that it was sent in January 2018 to the FLA.
He said he made checks at the FLA but the security guard said he was informed that the matter was being investigated. He was subsequently informed on April 21, 2021 that the FLA had revoked his licence and he appealed to the Review Board.
After waiting and getting no response, the security guard filed an application in the Supreme Court in August 2022. He had contended in court documents that “the act of the respondents in revoking my firearm licence and not indicating the reason for the revocation amounts to a breach of my right under the Firearms Act”.
He said in his affidavit that both the Review Board and the minister failed to carry out their statutory duty in ensuring that his appeal was heard and determined in the statutorily prescribed period and were therefore in breach of their statutory obligation.