San Pedro resort owner charged for “unlicensed” weapons after taking them to be licensed

Published by BBN Staff at August 24, 2019

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Posted: Saturday, August 24, 2019. 4:42 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye resort owner William Mulligan spent Thursday night in lockup and Friday morning in court after being told his two licensed firearms were in fact unlicensed – or at least, not licensed by him personally.

Police charged the 36-year-old, represented by Senior Counsel Ellis Arnold, with two counts of keeping unlicensed firearms – a black Heckler and Koch 9-millimeter pistol and an XTR 12-gauge shotgun – and keeping unlicensed ammunition – fifteen live 9-millimeter rounds and two Remington 12-gauge live cartridges.

On July 29, Mulligan went to Racoon Street Police Station to renew his license for the guns and ammunition. According to reports, there was no record of the previous licenses. But there is an unexplained delay between the date Mulligan went to Racoon Street and his appearance in court on Thursday, nearly a month later.

Appearing before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford, Mulligan, who pleaded not guilty, said police told him the guns in questions are licensed under someone else’s name. He added that “The system is very dysfunctional.”

While her hands were tied in granting bail, Supreme Court Justice Herbert Lord’s are not, and yesterday morning he set bail of $8,000 and two sureties of half that amount, under condition of reporting to the San Pedro Police Station every Friday and not interfering with any of the prosecution witnesses while the matter is before the court.

Mulligan goes back to court on October 23.

But Senior Counsel Arnold suggests his client will pursue damages, stating that he has all his documents from the prior registrations and that someone will have to be held responsible for this “ridiculous” state of affairs.

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