Advertisement 87
Advertisement 323
The burglars. From left: Joel Gill, Raja Clarke, and Rodd Greaves. (iWN photo)
The burglars. From left: Joel Gill, Raja Clarke, and Rodd Greaves. (iWN photo)
Advertisement 219

A 20-year-old burglar on Friday escaped jail time, thereby getting a chance to witness the birth of his child in five months’ time.

However, if Joel Gill is to be a free man when his child is born and for the first few months of his/her life, he must live within the four corners of the law for the next year.

Greaves, along with his co-accused, Rodd Greaves, 21, were handed one-year prison terms suspended for one year at the Serious Offences Court on Friday.

Raja Clarke, 23, the third man charged alongside them with the March 1, 2018 burglary of the home of Mitra Malcolm of Dorsetshire Hill, was not so lucky.

Clarke’s criminal record and his role in the crime worked against him and he was jailed for two and a half years.

Advertisement 21

Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias handed down the sentences after giving the men two chances to tell investigators what they had done with gold and gold-plated jewellery stolen during their crime.

They had, on March 28, pleaded guilty to a charge that on March 1, they stole one silver Sony Vaio laptop, value EC$1,250; a quantity of gold and gold-plated jewellery, value EC$3,150, the property of Dulrie Malcolm of Dorsetshire Hill; two black Lenovo laptops, value, EC$7,346, two black hard drives, value US$115, two small Sony cameras, value US$130; two black mag lights, value EC$450; one Dremel Multi-Max Tool Kit, value US$109.99; and a quantity of thumb drives, value EC$250, the property of Mitra Malcolm of Dorsetshire Hill.

The computers and one of the Maglite flashlights were recovered.

In passing sentence, the chief magistrate said that a person’s home is their castle and one should not have to fear coming home and not meeting what they have worked hard for.

She further noted that the items recovered had been moved far and wide across the country and praised the work of detective Constable Layne for her work on the case.

“Evil companions corrupt good manners,” the magistrate told the men, adding, “You have to pick your friends carefully.

“If you have intentions of pursuing criminality, check yourself now,” she said.

When the magistrate handed down the suspended sentences, Greaves’ mother, who was in court, began to cry.

“If you think your family crying now, go and do stupidness,” the magistrate warned.

She told Clarke that his antecedent record was horrific, saying it included a preponderance to crimes of a similar nature, adding that he was the ringleader and mastermind behind the crime.

5 replies on “Burglar eludes prison, gets chance to see birth of child”

  1. Is this what justice looks like?
    Where Mr Greaves and Mr Gill standing in the road watching Mr Clarke rob that property of jewellery and electronic
    items.
    I understand that this may be their first offense, but if this crime were plan by three, executed by three and the spoils divided by three
    why is one paying for three?
    You do the crime then you should do the time.

  2. For the two that got away, they are on easy street. What about the crimes in which they didn’t get caught? Thing with breaking and entering is that you start with petty crime first before you graduate to major crimes.

    1. So very true, I believe they all should have done jail sentence but I can see the reason why the judge may think otherwise for one… That Clark is the orchestrator of the plan and the co accomplices were intimidated by him and along with them being first offenders and have a chance to be rehabilitated….. But who knows it may only be they first got caught in the act lololol

      1. Vincy Lawyer says:

        I don’t believe in peer pressure and I have told my kids that it will not be an excuse if they do something wrong.

        I have and continue to drill in my children’s head to BE LEADERS NOT FOLLOWERS.

        I was hoping it would have been a wake up call for many but hey…

        …it done gone so!

Comments closed.