THE local Appeal Court yesterday reduced by almost a half, the 13-year jail sentence imposed on a teenaged boy who was found with an M-16 rifle and over 30 rounds of ammunition.

The reduction means that 17 year-old Jerome Gordon will spend approximately five more years in jail as he had already spent two years by the time his appeal came up for hearing before justices Paul Harrison, Donald Bingham and Seymour Panton.

The length of time the appeal took to come up was particularly ironic in the face of the newly displayed mission statement promising the public timely justice.

Gordon was arrested after the police burst into his room, searched it and found the rifle under his mattress. The ammunition, they said, was found in a box in his room.

When he was questioned about the arms, he told the police that he was keeping them for a man.

The prosecution argued at trial that Gordon’s statement assumed possession and knowledge of the firearm and bullets.

His lawyer, Alanzo Manning, however begged the court to take his client’s age into consideration and have mercy in the form of a non-custodial sentence.

However, the judges said that they did not have the legal latitude to use the boy’s age as a mitigating factor.

“The judge gave him 13 years because of the type of gun, and six for the ammunition,” said Justice Harrison. “Generally, the sentence for possession of a firearm is between five and seven, so we will reduce that but we will not disturb the six-year sentence as we do not find it to be excessive.”