The trial of a Warwick woman accused of having a loaded gun began yesterday with the Supreme Court hearing how an electrician found the weapon in the ceiling of her bedroom closet.

Desiree O’Connor has denied charges that she possessed a firearm, ammunition and freebase cocaine with intent to supply in an incident in 2024.

Kael London, for the Crown, told the court: “This case involves a situation where a workman went to the defendant’s premises to do some work.

“While there, he came across the firearm. He contacted authorities, who conducted a search of the premises. During that search, cocaine was found.”

Mr London added that the Crown’s position was that the drugs seized were not intended for personal use.

As the trial opened, the jury heard evidence from electrician William Tull, who said he had gone to Ms O’Connor’s Warwick home on the morning of September 13, 2024.

He said he had gone to the house previously to work on issues with lighting in a hallway and bedroom, and determined that he needed to go into the ceiling to locate the source of the “anomaly”.

Mr Tull recalled that the main door was locked when he got to the house, but he was able to enter through an unlocked bedroom.

Once inside, he went to Ms O’Connor’s bedroom closet where the access to the ceiling was located.

“I had to remove the clothes that were in the way and used the ladder that I had to access the ceiling,” he said.

Mr Tull said once he got his upper body through the access hole, his attention was drawn to a bag within arm’s reach of the entrance.

He said: “To me, it was out of place. My curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. I unzipped it.

“My first impression was, I hope it’s not what I think it is.”

Mr Tull said that when he looked in the bag, he saw a smaller black bag, which contained a handgun and ammunition in vacuum-sealed plastic.

He said he put the bag back and took a photograph of it, stating: “I figured once I notified the authorities, there would be more questions and a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Mr Tull said he then called his son, who did not answer, before calling a police officer that he knew.

Under cross-examination by Marc Daniels, for the defendant, Mr Tull said that Ms O’Connor was aware he was going to the house that day and that he would be going into the ceiling.

He said: “We knew that in order to fix the anomaly and make a permanent fix, we would have to go into the ceiling. That’s something we knew from June or July.”

His son, Damon Tull, said he had worked with Ms O’Connor for about ten years and had also done work on her house.

He said that when he received the call from his father, he contacted the defendant to let her know what had happened.

The witness added: “She was surprised. Confused. Just upset.”

Under cross-examination by Mr Daniels, Damon Tull accepted that Ms O’Connor was a generous and charitable person who was known to help people get back on their feet.

He also accepted that she had inherited the house after the death of her father in 2021, and that the house had been empty between then and 2023, during which time she began to carry out piecemeal renovation work.

The jury was also shown photographs and video of the Warwick property where the items were found.

The photographs showed an access hole in the ceiling of a bedroom closet, along with a beige tote bag with a multicoloured design in which the firearm was allegedly found.

Other photographs showed plastic twists of off-white substance in a jar with a grey lid on a nightstand.

One video of the search showed an officer with a search dog in the bedroom, with the dog indicating towards the nightstand, knocking a lamp off it in the process.

The trial continues.

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