A 21-year-old homeless man who stole a quantity of fibre optic cable belonging to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) was yesterday sentenced at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court to 12 months in prison by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.
Mohamed Hamid accepted the August 18 simple larceny charge which stated that at the Kingston Seawall, Georgetown, he stole 12 metres of fibre optic cable valued $300,000, property of GT&T.
When the matter was initially called, Magistrate Octive-Hamilton told Hamid that he was not required to plead to the charge.
She explained to him that it was an indictable charge and the Administration of Justice Act (AJA) had not been applied by the prosecution which would have allowed him an opportunity to enter a plea to the charge.
Hamid’s insistence on entering a plea to the charge, however, led to the prosecution to apply the AJA, making the charge no longer indictable but summary, which allowed the accused to plead to the charge.
The magistrate granted the prosecution’s request and then re-read the charge to the accused and then his guilty plea was accepted by the court.
The prosecution in its address to the court said that the facts were as stated in the charge. No further details of what transpired on the day in question were presented to the court.
Attorney Trenton Lake who appeared amicus curiae on Hamid’s behalf begged the court to “temper justice with mercy,” in handing down sentence.
Lake asked the court to consider in its ruling that the defendant was still at the formative age of 21 and that he had no fixed place of abode. He added that Hamid had lost both of his parents at a tender age and has been living on the streets ever since.
Hamid, who appeared before the court in a disheveled condition, informed that he lives at the Kingston Seawall.
Counsel asked the court also to take into consideration that the defendant did not waste “precious judicial time” as he accepted responsibility for his action at the first opportunity.
When asked by the court, the prosecution informed that the defendant was a first-time offender.
The magistrate then sentenced Hamid to jail for 12 months.
