Cops found sawed-off shotgun, ammo in man's vehicle, court hears

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A Moncton man has avoided jail after the court accepted that while he had a sawed-off shotgun and ammo in his vehicle, he didn’t have a malicious intent.

“The intention was good, but the way it was handled was not,” Judge Brigitte Volpé said during the sentencing hearing of James Gordon Taylor, 39, on Thursday.

He was in provincial court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to transporting a Beretta A300 Outlander sawed-off shotgun in a careless manner and possessing the firearm without a licence or registration.

Prosecutor Jean-Francois Cyr explained that it dated to Aug. 29, 2022, when Taylor’s sister called police to report he’d made threats toward her and police found him at his work.

Cyr said Taylor consented to a search of his vehicle and officers found a sawed-off shotgun in the backseat with ammo. It was unsafely stored and he had no licence to have it.

The prosecutor said having a prohibited firearm and ammo in a vehicle in such circumstances typically leads to jail but the Crown isn’t seeking that in this case. He said police took Taylor at his word that, while his sister claimed he made threats toward her, he had actually taken the gun and ammunition from her. It was not specified why he took the gun, but Cyr said “the real right decision would have been for him to call the police.

Defence lawyer Julie-Michele Lee told the court her client has mental health troubles and, while he has an armed robbery and break and enter on his record, those offences date back 20 years. The lawyers made a recommendation for a 12-month conditional sentence with the first half on house arrest and the second half on a curfew, to allow the offender to continue his full-time work.

The judge followed the recommendation, also ordering the forfeiture of the gun and ammo, a 10-year firearms and weapons ban, anger management and an assessment for Taylor’s mental health. Volpé accepted that Taylor’s explanation of the situation was “plausible” and he didn’t deserve to go to jail.