A man who admitted to stealing his colleague’s $105,000 Galaxy S4 Smartphone and attempting to deceive the police, earned himself a $115,000 fine yesterday.
Suraj Singh, 28, a handyman, stole the cellphone belonging to Tomola Robinson on June 15, at Robb and Wellington streets, George-town.
According to Prosecutor Bharat Mangru, Singh and Robinson are co-workers.
On the day in question, Robinson left her workplace but forgot her cellphone at the premises.
She later called a colleague to collect the phone but it could not be found, the prosecutor said.
The police were summoned and all the workers were implicated, but no one admitted knowledge of the phone, the prosecutor related. It was during further investigations that Singh admitted to stealing the cellphone and he later returned it to the owner.
When asked if he had anything to say, Singh apologized. Noting that the cellphone was returned to the owner, he begged the magistrate to be lenient in her sentence since he has a minor child to care for.
Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry then fined Singh $100,000 for stealing the phone, failure to pay the fine will see him imprisoned for six months.
He was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine for presenting false information to the police. In default, he will have to spend two weeks in jail.
