Two men — one a reputed don from rural St Andrew, and the other the father of an incarcerated man — who were convicted for possession of, dealing in, and trafficking prohibited weapons and ammunition, were on Monday slapped with multiple life sentences by Supreme Court judge Justice Vaughn Smith for their crimes.

The two — Romario Cunningham and Courtney Rhoden — were among a group of four men rounded up by cops in November 2023 during an intelligence-led operation following a tip indicating that weapons were going to be transported from Linstead, St Catherine, to a location in St Andrew on the day in question.

Sleuths assigned to the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) tracked the Toyota Probox in which Rhoden — who is in his 60s — was a passenger, to the compound of a hardware store in Mona, St Andrew, where he handed over a bag which was found to contain a semi-automatic rifle with no serial number and a magazine with 21 cartridges to Cunningham and another man who were in a Toyota Noah.

After the exchange, a covert team, which had watched and recorded the transaction on camera, gave a signal which resulted in the police teams in unmarked vehicles swooping down and arresting the men and seizing the firearm and ammunition.

Following a trial in May, in which the cases against two of the men collapsed for lack of evidence, Cunningham — the reputed don — was sentenced to 15 years at hard labour for possession of a prohibited weapon, life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 15 years for unauthorised possession of ammunition, and life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 20 years for dealing in prohibited weapons. Those sentences were ordered to run concurrently, making it so that he will spend the longest of the three — life without the possibility of parole until after 20 years.

Rhoden — the father of an incarcerated man who is the owner of the gun which was being taken to Cunningham — was sentenced to 15 years at hard labour with eligibility for parole after 10 years for the possession of prohibited weapon charge. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 15 years for unauthorised possession of ammunitions. He was slapped with a second life sentence with eligibility for parole after 20 years for the charge of trafficking prohibited weapons and a third life sentence with eligibility for parole after 20 years for the dealing in prohibited weapons charged. The sentences will, however, run concurrent, meaning that Rhoden, who is in his 60s, will serve the longest of the four before he is able to apply for parole.

The matter was heard in the Gun Court Division of the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston over five days.

A source with knowledge of the case told the Jamaica Observer that Cunningham had set eyes on taking over full leadership of the St Andrew community where he lived but rued the fact that no one would take orders from him.

“So he called for the firearm, which belonged to an incarcerated man, because he intended to exact a vicious takeover. The incarcerated man asked Rhoden, which is his father, to take the firearm to Papine, that is why the firearm was being exchanged. Cunningham was already a don but he wanted more [powerful] firepower to exact the takeover,” the source said.

All four men involved in that exchange were arrested that day and charged. However, during the trial Justice Smith, after considering the evidence, said even though sleuths had captured the takedown on camera, it wasn’t sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the other two men were really involved. The two, who had been on bail, were eventually acquitted. However, Cunningham and Rhoden were never given bail and were each found guilty and subsequently sentenced.

Justice Smith went further to commend investigator Detective Sergeant Clayon Fearon of the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch “for an investigation well done” outlining that the detective was thorough in pulling the evidence on the convicted men together.