A man who poured kerosene on a woman and threatened to set her afire has been jailed for abduction and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH).
The man, Rosano Theobalds was found guilty of abduction and ABH and High Court judge Justice Rickie Burnett sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison.
He had also been charged with rape but the nine-member jury returned a not guilty verdict on that count on Dec. 4, 2024, following a trial that began on May 26.
The facts of the case, as outlined by Justice Burnett, are that Theobalds and the virtual complainant (VC) know each other very well.
On the day of the offence, Theobalds telephoned the woman, who told him that she was in a minibus and it was difficult to communicate.
She told him she would call him back when she disembarked.
However, when the woman exited the van at her gap, she saw the defendant with a transparent green cover jar containing a liquid.
Theobalds began opening the jar as he walked towards the woman. When he was close to her, he poured the contents of the jar onto her.
The woman observed that it smelled like kerosene. She became afraid and began to scream as she ran towards her house.
Theobalds, who had a pink lighter in his hand, told her to stop screaming or he would set her afire. He held onto her and began to run with her toward a certain area.
The woman was futile in her attempt to pull away.
During the altercation, her purse fell. As she and Theobalds were passing a shop, she saw a male and a female and cried out, asking them for help.
However, they did not come to her assistance.
The defendant was holding the woman at the back of her top and continued to run with her. He took away her phone and put it in his pocket, but it fell along the way.
Theobalds and the VC passed two men and he asked them to give him the phone, but they did not respond.
The defendant and the VC ended up in a bushy area, where they stayed for a while.
While in the area, the VC’s child called and Theobalds allowed her to speak with the child and then they left the area.
While walking on the public road, they met a police vehicle, which stopped, and the officers asked the woman if she was OK.
She told the police that the defendant had thrown kerosene on her.
The police told her that they had her cell phone as someone had brought it to the station.
They searched the defendant’s bag and found a lighter, the woman’s top and a pair of scissors.
The officers took Theobalds and the VC to the police station and he was later charged.
In handing down the sentence, the judge noted the aims of sentencing, namely prevention, deterrence, retribution, and rehabilitation.
He noted that a social inquiry report described Theobalds as easygoing, industrious and helpful to residents who he assisted with cutting grass and performing odd jobs.
He is a skilled mason and carpenter, worked as a conductor and was gainfully employed
Theobald had also benefitted from religious education at a church and owns a home.
The judge noted that counsel Kay Bacchus-Baptiste had mitigated on Theobalds’ behalf and had challenged the victim impact statement, saying it contained hearsay and self-serving statements.
She said there was no evidence to support the assertions in the statement, adding that the VC could speak of the physical impact.
The lawyer had also argued that Theobalds was relatively youthful and had been willing to enter a particular plea if the rape charge had been withdrawn.
She asked that he be given the full one-third discount awarded to people who plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.
As regards the abduction charge, the lawyer asked the court not to start at the highest point on the scale, saying that Theobalds is a good candidate for rehabilitation.
In arriving at the sentence for abduction, Justice Burnett used the guidelines for kidnapping.
The judge said that the virtual complainant suffered significant humiliation and degradation as she was forced publicly to go from where she was to a certain place.
She had passed passers-by and cried and screamed for help to no avail.
There was prolonged detention, violence and threat of further violence, the judge said.
The maximum sentence was five years and the judge established a starting point of three years and nine months.
He said there were no mitigating features of the offence and he increased the sentence by one year.
The court found no aggravating feature of the offender and held that his lack of previous conviction was mitigating.
The sentence was reduced by one year, taking it back to three years and nine months.
On the ABH charge, the court established a starting point of one year — one-fifth of the maximum.
After considering the aggravating and mitigating features, the judge arrived at a sentence of one year and six months.
Justice Burnett ordered that the sentences run concurrently but consecutive to any sentence that Theobalds was serving.
Theobald did not spend any time on remand and this means that he has to spend three years and nine months in prison.
Counsel Alana Cumberbatch appeared for the Crown