Bert Samuels urges state action after Ewan Pryce gets 15 years for imitation firearms

Attorney Bert Samuels says the Government must intervene without delay after music producer Ewan Pryce was sent to prison for 15 years over imitation firearms.

The senior counsel contends that Jamaica’s Firearms Act places replica weapons on the same footing as unlawfully held real guns, a position he described as a “travesty of justice.”

Samuels also argues that Parliament took sentencing choice away from the courts when it put mandatory minimum penalties in place.

He has called on the administration and the Governor-General to examine whether Pryce should receive a pardon.

The conviction has unsettled figures in the local entertainment sector, where prop replicas are widely used in music videos and film productions.