69 year old honey thief remanded

A 69 year old man who stole 17 bottles of honey from Massy Stores was remanded in custody after crying “crocodile tears” in court.

Brian Cuffy of Calliaqua appeared at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on December 3, 2024, before senior magistrate, Tammika Mckenzie, where he pleaded guilty that between November 19, 2024 and December 2, 2024, at Kingstown he stole 10 IGA honey and seven Essential Everyday honey brands, totalling EC$578.25, the property of Massy Stores, Kingstown.

On December 2, 2024 at about 9:25 a.m, a loss prevention officer was on duty at Massy Stores monitoring the cameras when he saw Cuffy carrying a black plastic bag going into an aisle in the store and taking up two bottles of honey which he placed in a sand bag.

That officer instructed another security officer to stop Cuffy if he didn’t pay for the items. After Cuffy left the store, he was stopped by security.

During a search, Cuffy took out two bottles of honey from his bag.

The officer asked Cuffy for a further search on his person and found two bottles of honey in the bag. The matter was reported to the police.

Cuffy was later cautioned and interviewed. He gave no written statement, but verbally stated, “It done happen”. Around 5:00 p.m the same day the prevention loss officer showed the police five video clips of Cuffy stealing bottles of honey from the store, between November 19 and 28, 2024.

A search warrant was executed on Cuffy’s premises in relation to the matter, but nothing was found. When Cuffy was further cautioned, he gave no written statement but said, “Man it done happen”.

He was later arrested and charged with theft. The Calliaqua resident has previous convictions for offences of a similar nature.

“I have already explained to him that his actions are unacceptable,” Cuffy’s lawyer, Grant Connell told the court, while adding that Cuffy is remorseful for his actions.

“I saw him on the bench earlier with some crocodile tears,” the lawyer remarked. Connell said that Cuffy may be fooling the court but he is “certainly not fooling me”, and added that “ if the court is minded to send Cuffy to jail, two months in prison” would suffice.

“When he come out and see a bottle of honey, he won’t touch it,” Connell told the court. He further suggested that the court can then suspend the sentence, and if Cuffy wishes to carry on with stealing and he does not have the keys to Massy Stores, “he’ll have the keys to the jail.”

The lawyer informed the court that Cuffy uses the honey to help with his asthma.

After hearing Connell’s submissions, the senior magistrate adjourned the matter to December 10, 2024 and remanded Cuffy. The near 70 year old made a wailing noise when he returned to the prisoner’s bench.