Sentence Reduced for 81-Year-Old Convicted of Gun Charge

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Court of Appeal has reduced the one-year sentence handed to an 81-year-old woman convicted of possession of an unlicensed firearm. 

Freda Hart was freed from prison after Justices of Appeal Sir Michael Barnett and Indra Charles felt that her sentence should be reduced to six months and 12 days, the time she had already spent in custody.

Hart’s lawyer, Caleb Dorsett, appealed the sentence on the basis that it was too harsh given her age and medical condition.

In a dissenting decision, Justice of Appeal Jon Isaacs said that Hart ought to have remained in prison and served the entirety of her sentence notwithstanding her age.

On December 1, 2020, a team of police officers executed a search warrant on a home in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

While the officers were carrying out the search, Hart went into her grandson’s bedroom and retrieved a pink towel. During a struggle with the officers, it was discovered that the towel contained a 9mm pistol along with eight rounds of ammunition.

At the appeal, Hart’s lawyer presented a medical report that was not available to the sentencing magistrate.

According to the report, Hart was hypertensive, had an enlarged heart and was experiencing early dementia.

Justices Barnett and Charles found if the magistrate had the benefit of the medical evidence, he would not have imposed a sentence of one year.

By contrast, Justice Isaacs said the decision to show mercy to Hart would send the wrong message.

He said, “The extent that this Court appears to be lenient towards appellants merely on the basis of advanced age, notwithstanding that they possess firearms that can cause death, this will have the adverse impact of encouraging criminals to use their grandmothers and other elderly relatives, as the proverbial shield, on the basis that the courts will give the older relative a mere pat on the hand.”