The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) says it will appeal the four-year sentence handed to a man under the new Firearms Act that provides for a minimum 15 years’ imprisonment for illegal possession of a prohibited weapon.

The man, Dennis Mundell, was indicted under the wrong section of the new law, which came into effect on November 1, 2022, resulting in him being sentenced to four years and three months after he pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm.

According to the ODPP, justice may be best served if a review and appeal of the sentence handed to Mundell is pursued in the Court of Appeal.

“This view is held having regard to varying legal practitioner interpretations of sections 3, 4, 45(2) (including the penalty provision outlined in the Sixth Schedule of the FPRRA at page 115), 101(6) and 101(8) of the FPRRA (Firearms Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation Act) and the consequential amendments to the Criminal Justice Administration Act (referred to in the Seventh schedule of the FPRRA),” the ODPP said in a news release Monday afternoon.

“The ODPP will therefore take the appropriate administrative steps within the course of this week to file the relevant appeal so that the Court of Appeal can pronounce upon the appropriateness of the sentence after having reviewed the aforementioned provisions of the FPRRA,” the ODPP said.

The State prosecutor said it was taking the action, given concerns raised in the public domain with what is reported as the recent sentencing of the first person under the new Act.