An ex-convict was yesterday sentenced to three months in prison for robbery after telling a court that his inability to find a job led him to commit the crime.
Kennard Persaud, 25, of Regent and Oronoque streets, told Magistrate Fabayo Azore that he stole the Apple iPhone belonging to Ronaldo Selman because he was in a tight situation.
Persaud, a father of three, pleaded guilty to the charge that on August 16 at Longden Street, George-town, while being in the company of others and armed with a knife, he robbed Selman of the phone, which was valued at $85,000.
According to Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones, Selman was in the vicinity of Footsteps on Longden Street, when Persaud and another man approached him with a knife and robbed him of the phone. Jones said the police were summoned and they gave chase and caught Persaud with the phone in his possession. Selman later positively identified his phone and Persaud as one of the men who robbed him, Jones added.
When Persaud was given a chance to speak in court, he said that he did steal the phone but he was not armed with a weapon. The man further explained that he had finished serving an 18-month sentence for drug possession and was finding it hard to get a job. Persaud pleaded with Magistrate Azore for lenience, while promising that if she gave him a light sentence he would never come before her again for any crime.
The magistrate subsequently reprimanded Persaud and sentenced him to three months in prison.
