Court bonds teenager who stole his cousin’s purse of coins

The court has decided not to send a teenager to prison for a burglary that he committed against one of his family members, but has instead given him the chance to walk the straight and narrow path, by placing him on a bond.

Therefore, 18-year-old Lydon Bynoe of Old Montrose must not offend the law for a year or he will be called upon to pay $3000 immediately upon conviction. If the time should come when Bynoe puts himself in this position and he is unable to pay, then he will be sent to prison for 12 months.

Before being sentenced at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court(KMC) last Friday, October 1, Bynoe was sent to prison for four nights, to await the magistrate’s decision regarding his sentence.

Although he had never committed a crime before and never been to prison, burglary is considered a serious offence and is punishable at the higher court level by a maximum of 14 years imprisonment.

Last Monday, September 27, Bynoe had pled guilty to entering his cousin Charmine Bynoe’s house on September 24 as a trespasser, and stealing her green purse valued at $60, which contained $67 worth of coins.

Although the cousins live on the same compound, they have separate homes.

The defendant was revealed to have been nabbed after a witness saw him entering the cousin’s bedroom window, and leaving it again, following which they phoned her with the information.

After being taken into custody and interviewed, the young man eventually took the police to a shortcut where he had thrown the purse.
Nevertheless, while the purse was recovered, the contents were not.

The defendant explained that while he was in school before the pandemic, he never signed in to online classes.

He said that he committed this offence because he had been blamed on a previous occasion for the theft of money which he insisted he had not stolen.