A young man, who said he stole a BlackBerry smartphone because he was not paid for work he had done, was yesterday sentenced to a year in jail by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
Sookram Ramnarine, 25, admitted that on November 20, in Georgetown, he stole a BlackBerry Curve valued $40,000 and the property of Ashraf Mohamed.
Prosecutor Burgett Grant stated that Mohamed placed his phone on the counter at his business establishment and Ramnarine subsequently enter-ed the premises and left.
Grant said a few minutes later, Mohamed discovered his phone missing and he checked surveillance footage that showed Ramnarine picking up his phone and leaving the premises.
Mohamed subsequently filed a police report and Ramnarine was arrested and charged.
Grant further brought it to the court’s attention that Ramnarine had been convicted on two occasions for larceny, for which he spent one year and six months incarcerated, respectively.
When given the opportunity to speak, Ramnarine said, “I use to wuk fah de boy right, and I do wuk fah he and he ain’t want pay me and is like two weeks and he didn’t pay me so I see de phone pon de table and I tek it and sell it but after I get ketch I get back the phone.”
Taking into consideration all the factors, the magistrate then sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment.
Ramnarine was as recently as August arraigned on an assault charge, for which he was reprimanded and discharged after he explained to Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton that he was looking for food because he was hungry.
He had been warned to stay out of trouble upon his discharge.
