A youth was yesterday sentenced to 36 months in jail after he admitted to stealing a schoolboy’s cellphone.
Magistrate Faith McGusty handed down the sentence to Joseph James, who police said also brutalised the child in the attack.
James, 18, pleaded guilty to the charge that on December 7th, at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, he stole a $70,000 Samsung Galaxy 4 from a 14-year-old boy and used personal violence immediately before or after the said robbery.
According to James, he was standing on the block when he saw the boy coming from school. He admitted that he pulled the boy into a corner and snatched his phone, which he gave to one of his friends. The boy’s father, according to James, confronted him sometime later and requested the child’s phone. He said he then told him that he was not in possession of it.
Police Prosecutor Seon Blackman stated that the schoolboy was walking along the Soesdyke Public Road when James approached him from behind, choked him and pulled the phone from the boy’s pocket.
The boy raised an alarm and public-spirited citizens gave chase and captured James, who was then taken to the police station.
Prior to sentencing, Magistrate McGusty took into consideration the fact that James admitted to the offence at the first instance as a mitigating factor. However, she also considered the seriousness of the offence, its prevalence and the age of the complainant as aggravating factors. As a result, she then sentenced James to 36 months.
