Mother and son on $2,000 bond for fireworks

ALL PERSONS wishing to sell fireworks ought to apply for their licences personally. The ruling was handed down Monday by Magistrate David Harris at the Port-of-Spain Third Magistrates’ Court. As a result, businesswoman Susan Chang and her son Willie Chang were reprimanded and discharged, each bonded in the sum of $2,000 and ordered to keep the peace for one year. Susan, 54, and her son Willie, 25, both of Carenage, were arrested on December 18 following a city-wide raid by officers of the Firearm Interdiction Unit.

They were subsequently charged by PC Carter Francis for selling fireworks without a licence. The licence they had used had borne the name of another person, Pearl Ghany. After weeks of deliberation on the submissions made by defence attorneys Douglas Mendes SC, Stuart Young and Ian Roach and State attorney, Nigel Pilgrim, the magistrate finally ruled in favour of the prosecution, finding both mother and son guilty of the offence as charged. The defence had made an abuse of process by the police submission on December 29, 2003, which had been refuted by Pilgrim. The police, he said, were responsible for inspecting the premises and not issuing licences. Regarding the legitimacy of the licence, Pilgrim had argued that the licence could not have been legitimate because the Explosive Act stated that the retailer, and not the premises, was supposed to be licenced.
 
In addition, Pilgrim had said, “licenced premises” was shorthand for “premises of a licenced retailer.” Before the sentence was handed down, Roach pleaded for leniency for his clients.  He said they were business people just trying to make an honest living.  Susan, he said, had made an application to migrate and a conviction could prejudice the application. He said his clients had made a genuine mistake and should not be made to suffer for it. In default of their sentences, the Changs will serve a prison term of 21 days.