Masa testifies in gun trial – VERDICT NEARS

Both the prosecution and defence have closed their initial trial arguments in relation to the gun case involving well-known social media personality Ramoamasagana ‘Masa’ Pemberton.

Pemberton is charged with unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition.

Magistrate Ayanna Baptiste DaBreo is expected to deliver a verdict at the ‘earliest available time’ after March 22, when she is expected to receive final submissions from the prosecution and defence.

Pemberton, 26, testified in his own defence yesterday.

While on the witness stand, he maintained that he is innocent, and claimed to be vaguely firearm-literate.

The accused stated that, before his trial, he did not know what the magazine of a gun.

He further described the magazine as a ‘tube thing’ which he considers to be a technical part of a gun.

“I know the handle; the trigger; a silencer; but the technical parts I don’t know,” he told the court.

Pemberton went on to describe the ammunition that he reportedly found with the firearm as ‘small golden fragments’ that he thought were bullets.

I did not remember I found a gun

Police first interviewed Pemberton some 10 months after he ‘found’ and handled the gun in August 2015.

During that initial interview, Pemberton declared that he never handled a firearm in his life.

However, in a second interview, he told police that he in fact had handled the gun in question.

In court yesterday, the prosecution questioned Pemberton as to why he ‘lied’ to police the first time he was interviewed about the gun.

The accused maintained that he did not lie in the first police interview.

“I didn’t remember… I just didn’t recall at the time,” he further told the court.

When questioned further as to why he never reported his alleged gun find to the police, Pemberton declared: “I didn’t want my name to be called in the media on the finding.”

Pemberton, who is being represented by attorney Patrick Thompson, added that he was also afraid of falling victim to the persons who actually hid the gun.

From the get-go, Pemberton’s defence was that he found the gun hidden near his Purcell Estate residence on an evening when he was parking a motor scooter.

He added that he stumbled upon the weapon while clearing some debris to make room for the two-wheeled vehicle.

Pemberton told the court that, after discovering the weapon, he left it behind and parked the scooter.

He further testified that he moved bike after about 15 minutes because he ‘had a funny feeling’ leaving the scooter in the said location.