Student commended for helping police crack case

Police have commended the investigative work of a fifth form student of the St Vincent Grammar School that led to the arrest of the man who stole his Blackberry smart phone.{{more}}

Two weeks after Maurice Primus made off with the student’s Blackberry 9900 in the Richmond Hill area, the 17-year-old student took a photo of Primus on an Apple Ipad and took it to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). This allowed the police to identify the bandit and nab him for the crime.

The Kingstown Magistrate’s Court heard, during its sitting on Tuesday this week, that Primus had approached the student in the area of the Kingstown Preparatory School/ National Lotteries Tennis Court and asked him for a phone call in October this year.

The unsuspecting youth told Primus that he had no credit, after which Primus asked for a “Please Call Me,” and the teenager obliged.

In his testimony, the student said that after sending the “Please Call Me,” Primus held on to the phone, saying he was waiting for the individual to call back. He said that they then walked to the Stoplight restaurant, where the student tried to purchase credit for Primus to call the individual, but none was available. The student testified that he then left his bag and cell phone with Primus, while he went to RBTT bank to purchase credit.

He testified that when he returned, Primus and his phone were gone, but his bag was still there. He said that he was told by another person that Primus had run off when he left.

The student promptly reported the matter to the police.

The boy told the court that two weeks later, he saw Primus in the same vicinity where Primus had asked him for the phone call, and secretly took a picture of the suspect on the tablet.

He then took the photograph to the investigators, who were able to identify Primus, and later found him at the Sion Hill bus stop, where he was searched. The phone was found on him, and he was arrested.

Arresting officer Adrian Forde, in his testimony, said that Primus told him that he took the phone from the student because the student and his (Primus’) cousin had a deal, and the student failed to keep his end of the bargain.

Forde also testified that Primus gave a statement at the police station, in which he said he was waiting for the student, when the person he sent the request to called him and told him he was in the van “Busy”, and when the van came he “rolled out”.

The accused testified in court that he had intended to return to phone to the student, but at the same time his own phone was destroyed and he decided to use the Blackberry.

Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias, found Primus guilty of the charge of theft, and chastised him for taking advantage of the schoolboy.

She sentenced Primus to three months in prison for the crime, and imposed on him a $1,500 fine to be paid forthwith, for breaching the bond on a previous conviction.

Failure to pay would see Primus spending another six months behind bars.

The sentences are to run consecutively.

Prosecutor Glenford Gregg commended the student for taking the photograph and giving it to the police, an act he said helped investigators to crack the case.(JJ)