Teenager bonded for shoplifting doughboy

After planning how to execute the theft of a doughboy valued at $2.90 from Massy Stores, an 18-year-old didn’t think about what he would do if he were caught.

Kesroy Ryan risked it all for a doughboy at the supermarket at Stoney Ground last week, while shopping with his girlfriend, who he says he wishes to marry.

Ryan was caught mid-afternoon, with the bread in his bag by a manager of the supermarket, who knew him well “from a previous encounter.”

The defendant was kept under close observation as he walked through the store, and was seen with a doughboy in his hand in an aisle. After leaving the aisle, he was apparently not seen with the baked good in his hand.

The accused was with a small group at the time, and there was a child among the persons in this group. This child was deployed to buy biscuits, and the group then attempted to leave. They were stopped before they left, and a search of the defendant’s bag revealed the doughboy.

Ryan was charged along with Hazel at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court last Thursday, but after his girlfriend pleaded that she was not guilty, and he pleaded that he was, the charge was withdrawn against her.

When asked if he accepted the facts as read in court, Ryan responded, “Yes, please,” which was his standard response for the duration of the court proceedings.

“Look at that,” senior magistrate Rickie Burnett told the polite defendant, while gesturing towards the doughboy that lay innocently on the bar table.

He then asked the defendant for information, such as his age and how many subjects he had passed. Ryan replied that he was 18 years, and that he had six subjects, which took him a while to list, as there were some pauses and uncertainty.

The defendant said that he had not gone to college, because he was helping his mother build a house at the time.

The senior magistrate then asked him about the incident. “My understanding of what the prosecutor was saying is that Massy Stores was keeping their eye on you,” he asked the defendant. The magistrate said that knowing this, the defendant would have known that he would have been caught.

“Yes, please,” Ryan repeated three times in a row. When he was pressed for a reason, the 18-year-old responded that he didn’t think it through.

“It is pretty, pretty sad the stories that are coming to the court now,” Burnett stated. He remarked that he doesn’t know what’s going through the head of the young boys of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Ryan was asked about his girlfriend with the question, “You expect her to be your wife one day?” “Yes, please,” he responded, and looked at his girlfriend, whose face remained impassive. The defendant showed seriousness where it concerned his girlfriend, as he was observed asking her before if she was okay after they were first charged.

“Suppose I am to lock you up for seven days?” Burnett asked Ryan, whose expression seemed to falter slightly.

Burnett indicated that he had gone inside the store, knowing exactly what he was doing.

“I am supposed to introduce a different life to you,” he said, continuing, “I can’t allow you to walk out of my courtroom like it was a very good day on the job.”

However, Prosecutor Corlene Samuel opined that a bond might be in order.

Burnett asked to speak to Ryan’s mother, who he learnt was present, but it turned out that she had left.

Cryptically, the prosecutor also told the magistrate that if he had remembered from the facts that she had said that a group of persons had entered the store.

“Ah okay, I get your point,” the magistrate replied.

He bonded the defendant for one year in the sum of $1500, with a default of six months imprisonment if he breaches the bond and cannot pay this sum forthwith.

“But Mr Ryan, y’all need to stop this foolishness. You and all the others that are involved,” Burnett said.