Phony mechanic to spend 63 months behind bars

A conman who posed as a mechanic has admitted guilt on 10 charges of deceiving seven persons and will be spending a total of 63 months in prison.
 
“My worship why you give me so hard – consecutive?” defendant, Noel Bynoe asked Senior Magistrate, Rickie Burnett after being sentenced at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court (KMC) on Wednesday, April 6. 

The magistrate replied to him, “Because you dealt with those persons hard as well.”

The magistrate applied nine months of incarceration for each of the 10 charges against Bynoe. For the charges that concerned the same victim, the nine month sentences run concurrently, but in the cases where the complainants are different the nine month sentences run consecutively. 

Since there were seven affected complainants who had been deceived from various areas including Evesham, Campden Park, Dorsetshire Hill, Kingstown, Diamond and Sion Hill. He said he worked as a mechanic or at a mechanic shop, mentioning the names of certain local mechanics. He told them that he would fix their vehicles and they gave him funds to start buying parts or to work on the vehicles.

It is said that he deceived them out of sums ranging from $100 to $600.

Follow-up attempts to contact Bynoe were to no avail and the matters were reported. The police investigated, and in some cases Bynoe was recognised from social media and a newspaper.

The 59-year-old Stubbs/Victoria Village resident has a criminal record that began in 1988. Apparently most of his convictions are for deception.

On Wednesday the trial into one of the matters had already begun and the court had taken oral evidence from one victim when the defendant decided to change his plea.

“I am afraid that based on your record you are unlikely to change,” the magistrate said during his sentencing comments.

The defendant had given a reason for his actions as being that someone had performed obeah on him.

“…You tried to blame the presence of the Coronavirus for your actions on these ordinary Vincentians but that should not be so because that’s your modus operandi from the year 1988 right through your life,” Burnett told him.

“I reminded you that you appeared before me when I was in the Mesopotamia Magistrate’s Court. That is a long time ago,” the magistrate said, but he is back before him for the same type of crime.

“I have a duty to protect society from you, I have to do it,” the judicial officer told the defendant.

“I hope that when you go into the prison that you would change your ways,” he said to Bynoe.

The defendant interjected by asking, “You can’t charge me a fine your worship?”

“I’m not gonna charge you a fine,” Burnett responded, “Not gonna do that.”

He asked Bynoe to look at what he has done.

“You need to stop it sir,” the magistrate said.

He then handed down the various sentences before informing the defendant that he has a right to appeal.

Bynoe supposedly had legal representation who was not present, but the judicial officer commented, “[The lawyer] has to give an account to you why he was not here but based on the information that I had before me, I was not willing to wait on him.”

Gesturing to the full court room, Burnett said, “Look at these complainants. They were here the last time, I gave them the undertaking that they would be the final adjournments and they are here. And the reason given by your lawyer was not satisfactory to me and I proceeded in his absence.”

Following this sentencing, outside of the courtroom, one of the victims in the matter commented to SEARCHLIGHT that the outcome “was needed because that guy(Bynoe) he don’t really think about what he does.”

He said “I believe if you release him today he’d go out there and do the same thing again. Because when I came last month he was there and then today I came, I saw the new faces,” which he interpreted to mean there were more persons with fresh matters before the court concerning Bynoe.

The individual said that he had been caught by the defendant when he was vulnerable as he didn’t want to use public transportation because he was afraid to catch the Coronavirus.

“I was in desperation so I say lemme trust this guy cause he apparently tryna help people out,” the person said.

He believes that Bynoe needs to go and think about his actions.