NASSAU, Bahamas, Dec 5, CMC – An American woman, who told the court that she inadvertently brought a gun with her on a cruise, has been sentenced to two years in jail after she was unable to pay an US$8,000 fine for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
Mary Elizabeth Robinson, of Sandy Springs, Oklahoma, was arrested after security personnel found a loaded .380 pistol in her purse as she tried to board the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship at the Nassau Cruise Port on December 2.
Robinson, a retiree, who had boarded the ship along with her 12-year-old adopted son in Fort Lauderdale, pleaded guilty when she was arraigned before Magistrate Lennox Coleby Sr.
Her attorney, Bjorn Ferguson, told the court that she had owned the gun, a gift from her aunt, for over 50 years and that his client lived in an open carry state and had forgotten the firearm was in her bag as she was experiencing the early stages of dementia.
Ferguson noted that the court had a discretion to impose a fine instead of a prison sentence and that Robinson had already spent two days in custody at the Central Police Station where she “had to contend with very aggressive rats”.
The magistrate said he was satisfied that Robinson was not intent on breaking the law and imposed an $8,000 fine and also ordered the gun and ammunition seized.
Meanwhile, a 43-year-old Haitian was fined US$1,000 after admitting he failed to declare that he was travelling to Haiti with more than US$40,000.
The magistrate court heard that FanFan Derice, was stopped at Lyden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) for suspicious behaviour and failed to declare to a Bahamas Customs officer that he was travelling with over US$10,000 on December 2.
Derice pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to declare before Senior Magistrate Kara Turnquest Deveaux and was ordered to pay a US$1,000 fine or serve six months in prison.
The court returned US$3,600 to the defendant, while the remaining US$38,615 was forfeited to the Crown.
CMC/fh/ir/2025