A young man sent a threatening gangster-style video of himself firing a handgun to a former friend who he had fallen out with. In the gang culture-inspired footage Harry Hamonda can be heard warning his former pal before picking up a black gun and discharging it out of the window of his car.
A judge said anyone who saw the "deeply unpleasant" video would be concerned by its contents and said there were two ways of looking at the man in the dock – either a gangster and a nasty criminal or a "naïve idiot". The judge said he took the view the 21-year-old defendant was a naïve idiot.
Nik Strobl, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court that Hamonda and a man called Ryan Storm had been good friends for 17 years until a failing out in the summer of 2020. Over the following months the former friends exchanged abusive messages until the January of the following year when Mr Storm blocked the defendant's number on WhatsApp. Hamonda then began messaging his former friend on Facebook and the feud continued until shortly before midnight on February 23 when he sent Mr Storm a video message. In the clip the defendant can be heard telling Mr Storm that he didn't walk around with "blades" but with "straps" – a reference to firearms – and then he can be seen picking up a black handgun from the passenger seat of his car an firing it out of the window.
The court heard the video was reported to police and officers executed a search warrant of Hamonda's house. A black replica handgun of the kind seen in the video was found in the garden of the property and the defendant later admitted he had thrown it out of the window when officers arrived. The prosecutor said the search also uncovered two air rifles – though these were determined to be legally held – and 10g of cannabis in a drawer in a bedroom along with a quantity of small plastic bags. When the defendant's phone was examined officers found messages relating to the buying and selling of cannabis.
In a victim impact statement read to court Mr Storm said he had been concerned at the contents of the video and was worried because he knew the defendant knew where he lived. He said he had changed his route to work in case he came across Hamonda or his friends and had been anxious at the prospect of attending court to give evidence.
Harry Sunny Hamonda, of Magellan Close, Barry, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and to possession of cannabis with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has a previous conviction for assault by beating – an offence committed after the firearm offence and for which he has already received a 16-week suspended prison sentence.
Derrick Gooden, for Hamonda, said his client and Mr Storm had been good friends for a long time before the relationship broke down for reasons known only to the two men. He described the video sent by his client as "nothing more than big-headedness and bragging" though he accepted that anybody who had received it would have been scared. He said that was something which the defendant had reflected upon since being charged. The advocate said his client had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and also suffered with panic attacks and anxiety and he added Hamonda's mother had sent a heartfelt letter to the court about her son.
Judge Shomon Khan described the video sent by the defendant, with its overtones of "gang culture and gun culture", as "deeply unpleasant". He said members of the public who saw the footage would be concerned at its contents and would want a deterrent sentence for such offending.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Hamonda was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the firearm offence and to five months for the drug offence to run consecutively making 20 months in total with the sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation course and was made the subject of a restraining order banning him from contacting his victim for the next five years.
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