The approval of a gun licence to reggae artiste, Jah Cure, was rescinded only after the FLA’s Director of Investigation pressed the Dennis Wright chaired board over its decision to grant the licence to a man convicted of violent crimes.
The case is another in a string of questionable decisions by the then FLA board to reverse itself without any discernible new information to support its decision.
So concerned was the Director of Investigation about the Board’s reversal of the denial, she wrote to the then acting CEO, Lincoln Allen, stressing the crimes for which Jah Cure had been convicted.
Ricardo Brooks reports.
Jah Cure’s given name is Siccature Alcock. He applied for a gun licence in December 2014.
After a thorough investigation into Mr. Alcock’s background by the FLA, the police and the courts, the FLA board denied his application in June 2016.
Dennis Meadows and two other directors were signatories to the decision to deny him the licence.
The basis for the refusal of the licence, as recorded in the official document, was that Jah Cure was determined not to be a fit and proper person under the Firearms Act.
Still, for reasons which are unclear, just three months later, in September 2016, the FLA board re-visited its decision and approved the licence to Jah Cure.
No explanation is given for the reversal of the decision which was made three months prior.
The Authority proceeded to write to Jah Cure on October 12, advising him that his application had been approved. It gave three conditions for the approval.
The receipt of outstanding security clearance. Evidence of Jah Cure’s success in the prescribed FLA Firearm Competence Assessment and confirmation that the facility required for the secure storage of the firearm and ammunition was in place.
On November 21 2016, Jah Cure’s file was requested on the authority of the then FLA chairman, Dennis Wright. It is not clear why the chairman requested the file.
A day later, November 22, 2016, the Authority’s Director of Investigation wrote to the acting CEO urging the rescinding of Jah Cure’s gun licence.
The director detailed to the CEO the crimes for which Jah Cure had been convicted and the term of imprisonment imposed for the crimes.
She stressed that the crimes cannot be expunged under existing law.
She told the acting CEO that for those reasons, Jah Cure was unsuitable for the grant of a gun licence.
On that same day, November 22, 2016, the FLA Board overturned itself and rescinded Jah Cure’s gun licence.
The reason for reversing itself was on the grounds that Jah Cure is not a fit and proper individual to be granted a licence.
This was information the FLA already had when it reversed its earlier denial, and approved the licence in September 2016.
No new information is presented on the file to indicate why the FLA Board denied, approved and then rescinded its decision.
