Court of Appeal Cuts Sentences in Five Gun Cases

Five men, including tattoo artist Oszie Kelvin Russell, better known as “Mongoose”, have won reduced prison sentences in the Court of Appeal after challenging then Senior Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel’s application of the totality principle.

Russell, Jamal Prince, Malique Challenger, Ricardo Howell, and Jeson Cedeno were represented in a joint appeal by attorney Wendel Alexander.

Alexander argued that the way the totality principle was applied made the sentences more severe than they should have been.

Cedeno’s sentence was varied to time served, meaning he walks free, after the DPP’s office conceded he had been sentenced under a 2024 firearms amendment that was not yet in force when his offence was committed.

The Court of Appeal says its full reasons for the ruling will be given at a later date.