Baby saves Suggie Thomas from jail

Suggie Thomas is today thanking his lucky stars that he is a father. At the Serious Offences Court on Monday, when he told Magistrate Sonya Young that he has a young child to take care of, he was spared a prison sentence.{{more}}

“You see me right now, I feel to send you to prison, but the fact that you told me you have a three-month old baby, I took that into consideration and I am going to fine you hard. You better say thank God you had a baby,” said Magistrate Young.

Thomas, 21, of Prospect pleaded guilty and was fined $1,700 in three months for having 1,123 grams (two pounds) of marijuana in his possession on November 24, 2007 at Old Montrose. Failure to pay the fine would see Thomas going to prison for nine months.

At about 7:20am, Special Services Unit (SSU) officers were on mobile patrol in the Montrose area when they saw the defendant walking along the public road with a camouflage back pack. The officers approached him and requested a search on his person after noticing he was acting suspiciously.

The search turned up pieces of clothing along with a black plastic bag, which contained two parcels and contained material resembling that of cannabis.

Thomas was cautioned and replied, “Officer, tell me de price and ah go pay you fo de weed ah dem.”

With two previous drug convictions in 2007 for marijuana and cocaine, Thomas told the Magistrate that last year was very rough for him and stated he was left in a position where he had to pay $150 a month rent for a room. He said he had no where to put his child and that he wasn’t working. However, Thomas told the court he obtained a job as a timekeeper and he had made some changes in his life.

In replying to Thomas, Magistrate Young said, “I don’t think fining you would change anything. If you wanted to change, you should have changed on the first occasion,” she stated.