A 47-year-old man who has 44 convictions, including 41 for offences of dishonesty, has been jailed for three years for three offences, including for burglarising a house as the occupants slept.
However, the man, Raphael Robinson, of Prospect and Arnos Vale, will only spend two years in prison as a one-year sentence imposed on Thursday will run concurrent to the two one-year sentences handed down on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, Senior Magistrate Colin John sentenced Robinson to two one-year prison terms, to run consecutively.
Then on Thursday, Robinson was sentenced to another one-year term, but to run concurrent with the sentences imposed the previous day.
On Wednesday, Robinson pleaded guilty to charges that:
on March 18, at Amos Vale, knowing or believing one Chenki gold watch to be stolen goods, dishonestly received same for his own benefit; and, on March 14, at Indian Bay, entered the apartment building of Collin Alexander, of Indian Bay, as a trespasser with intent to commit an offence to wit “theft”.
He was not allowed to plead to the indictable charge that on March 14, at Indian Bay, he entered the dwelling house of Roslyn Fraser, of Indian Bay, as a trespasser and at the time had with him a weapon of offence to wit “a knife”.
That matter was adjourned and transferred to the Serious Offences Court for a preliminary inquiry on Aug. 12.
Then, on Thursday, he pleaded guilty to a charge that on March 16, at Arnos Vale, with intent to commit burglary, he did an act that was more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence.
Prosecutor acting Corporal of Police Corlene Samuel presented the facts in the three matters.
On Wednesday, she told the court that Alexander owns a two-storey concrete apartment building in Indian Bay, which is fenced with concrete fencing and has a wire gate.
Alexander occupies a one-storey wall structure located in front of the apartment.
One of the tenants moved out on Feb. 28, and around 7 p.m., Alexander secured the apartment, leaving everything intact.
He locked all the doors of the apartment and left several meshed windows open for ventilation.
On March 14, around 9 a.m., one of Alexander’s neighbours telephoned him, saying that the main door on the top floor of the apartment was open.
He also received information that two unknown men were seen leaving the compound.
Alexander then checked and found that the apartment was burglarised on the southern side.
The window there was open and Alexander realised that the apartment had been searched.
However, nothing was missing.
He was also able to view CCTV footage from another property and the defendant was seen on the footage.
The police at Calliaqua were informed and detective Constable 446 Hope conducted an investigation during which he watched the footage and recognised the defendant.
On Monday, the defendant was located and informed of the report. The police executed a search warrant at his home but did not find the clothes that Robinson was wearing when he committed the offence.
The defendant later stated in the presence of Justice of the Peace Woodley, admitting to the offence.
The facts in the other matter are that the virtual complainant (VC) owns a single-storey concrete house where he lives with his wife.
On March 13 at 9 p.m., he secured the house and they went to sleep. On March 14, at about 5:25 a.m., he woke up and was getting ready for work when he realised that his bedroom door was open, which he had closed the night before.
He went to the living room and realised that the main front door was open. The VC checked and realised that his wallet and his wife’s handbag were missing.
The VC notified his wife and they checked and realised that a quantity of items, including those in the charge, were missing.
They reported the matter to the Calliaqua Police Station and PC 125 McDowald investigated, leading to the defendant.
Police conducted a search warrant at Robinson’s home and the stolen items were found.
Robinson was interviewed in the presence of a justice of the peace and stated where he had gotten the watch.
In handing down his sentence, the senior magistrate said he had taken Robinson’s criminal record into account.
He, however, noted that Robinson had 43 convictions between 1993 and 2023.
John told Robinson that people must be allowed to enjoy their homes without people like him interfering with them.
He noted that people were in the house and things could have gone south for them or Robinson if they had awoken when he was in the house.
He said that in imposing the sentence he considered the prevalence of burglary, adding that there seems to be an increasing number of burglaries in the area as well.
Meanwhile, in the matter heard on Thursday, Robinson pleaded guilty to a charge that on March 16, at Arnos Vale, with intent to commit burglary, he did an act that was more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence.
The facts as read by prosecutor Samuel, are that Colville Murray is the owner of a two-storey concrete house with two apartments on the lower floor in Arnos Vale.
The building is monitored by a CCTV camera system.
On March 16, about 6 a.m., Murray checked the cameras and discovered that one of them overlooking a window on one of the apartments downstairs was pointing in a different direction than it should have been.
The camera was pointed towards the ground and a mesh of the window was leaning against the wall on the ground. However, the window has burglar bars.
Murray reviewed the footage from that morning and about 5:07 a.m., on the footage, he saw the defendant entering his property.
The footage showed Robinson taking a stick and turning the camera from its original position, pointing it towards the ground.
PC 674 Graham investigated and on Wednesday met the defendant at the Calliaqua Police Station, informed him of the offence, and cautioned and interviewed him in the presses of PC976 Edwards.
Robinson volunteered a statement admitting to the offence.
In handing down his sentence, the senior magistrate noted that Robinson had appeared before the court the previous day.
“The same advice I am giving you today as I gave you yesterday. You need to take time when you go around there to reflect so when you come out, I hope that you come out with some skill or that you are a better person,” John said.