Supermarket thieves caught

Persons employed at Randy’s Supermarket were extra vigilant over the last weekend, and as a result caught two men in the act of shoplifting.{{more}}

Shawn Delpesche, a 28-year-old Campden Park resident, and Murray’s Village resident Jerome Melville pleaded guilty at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Monday to stealing.

Delpesche was sentenced to 21 days in prison for stealing three Charles Chocolate bars, while Melville was placed on a six-month bond for stealing one bottle of Sunset Strong Rum. If Melville breaks the bond, he will have to a pay $2,000 fine or spend six months behind bars.

On August 14, Delpesche walked into the supermarket and went to the confectionary section. After taking up the three chocolate bars, Delpesche passed the cashier without paying. He was just outside the supermarket when he was stopped by the supermarket’s security guard.

Explaining his actions to the court, Delpesche told Senior Magistrate Donald Browne that he was extremely hungry when he stole the items and had been experiencing some stomach pains. “I been feeling ah pain in my belly and it been going, ‘goop goop’,” said Delpesche. From the moment he started poking himself in the side of his abdomen to re-enact what he was feeling, the entire courtroom burst into laughter.

In Melville’s case, he went into the supermarket, picked up the strong rum and left without paying. He told the court that it was his friend who placed the rum in a bag that he was carrying. “I never thief before you know, your worship. This is the first time anything like this ever happen to me,” Melville told the magistrate.

Melville added that he was waiting to take up a job offer in Petit St Vincent as an assistant plumber, but he was just waiting on a police record.

The Senior Magistrate, with a slight chuckle, told Melville that he had just messed up his clean police record and might face a problem when seeking employment in the future.