Keisha Persaud will be sitting in prison for the next 18 months after she stole her friend’s phone.
“Your Honour, I don’t know why I did it. After I did it, I was very scared and ashamed of what I did,” Persaud, 21, told Magistrate Ann McLennan before her sentence was handed down yesterday.
The charge against Persaud, of Lot 1231 Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo, stated that on July 22, she stole a BlackBerry smartphone, valued $70,000, belonging to Amit Ramdatt.
She pleaded guilty to the charge after it was read against her at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Persaud and Ramdatt had been friends for the past three years, Prosecutor Deniro Jones told the court, while adding that she would normally go to his Lot 34A North Road office, where they would sit and converse.
On July 22, at about 1:45pm, Jones said, Persaud visited Ramdatt at his office and he subsequently received a call to go to another office, where he spent approximately 20 minutes. Persaud had left by the time he returned and after searching for his cellular phone, he realised it was missing.
Ramdatt subsequently telephoned Persaud to find out whether she knew where his cellular phone was and she denied having any knowledge of its location. However, shortly after Persaud denied having any knowledge of what happened to the phone, she activated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). A friend of Ramdatt’s later made contact with Persaud via BBM and while talking to her he found out that the phone she was using belonged to Ramdatt, Jones explained.
As a result a report to the Brickdam Police Station and subsequent investigations, Persaud was arrested and Ramdatt’s cellular phone was found in her possession, Jones stated.
“This is the first time I come to court for anything. I am pleading to Mr. Amit; I will return the item to him,” Persaud told the court.
After Magistrate McLennan handed down the sentence, Persaud almost tearfully pleaded with Ramdatt, saying that she was sorry. Ramdatt simply nodded his head.
