Man steals sick woman’s cellphone

“Are you a good Samaritan or a bad one?” asked magistrate Bertie Pompey of a man charged with stealing a sick woman’s cellphone.

Michael Wilson was brought before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on November 23, charged with theft of a cellphone worth US$149 which contained one 200GB card valued $79, and further one Digicel SIM card worth $15 and a FLOW SIM card worth $15. This was reported as the property of a Sonia Jack of Dorsetshire Hill.

Wilson pleaded guilty to the offence and the facts of the offence, as given by the police, were that the complainant was on her way home, walking from the Sion Hill intersection on November 16. Jack then felt as if a seizure was coming over her, and she sat on the steps of the Streams of Power Church that was nearby. She said that Wilson then appeared and asked her some questions. Jack told him that she was having a seizure and requested that he make a call for her. Wilson did make this call, but in the process of doing so, is said to have made off with the phone and did not return. Jack then went looking for him, but could not find him, and thus made a report to the police, who carried out investigations and eventually arrested Wilson on suspicion of committing the offence.

Prosecutor Elgin Richards stated that Wilson was known for such behaviour, and that he was asking for a custodial sentence because Wilson “must be stopped.”

The defendant gave his side of the story in a fast paced, fervent and detailed ramble. Wilson said he was doing some work at a radio station which is near the Streams of Power Church, with regard to construction, and a lady came up to him and said she was taking in with a seizure.

He said they then went to get the lady a glass of water and when they got back, she was lying down. She asked them to call her sister Caroline, and to use the FLOW SIM card to do so. Based on the fact that the sister could not help immediately, Wilson said he hailed a taxi, but when he returned the lady was not there.

The pastor of the Streams of Power Church then informed him that the lady had been looking for him and he said he went after her, but did not see her. He put the cellphone in a toolbox that he had at home and left it there. He then said he saw a police corporal in town and told him he would take responsibility for the phone. When he got home, he said he saw the doorknob broken and the toolbox open and tools on the floor, but the phone was gone. He asked the court to give him two weeks to pay for the cellphone, saying he would take full responsibility and pay for it.

Magistrate Bertie Pompey, after perusing the defendant’s previous conviction record, said: “Let me tell you your fate,” to the defendant, who was insisting on pleading with him. Pompey stated that Wilson had 24 previous convictions before the court, 14 of which were involving acts of dishonesty.

“Boss, I really want to finish my job. I begging you please sir..I will not come back before you,” Wilson continued to plead.

Pompey continued, saying that there are three principles of punishment: one whether the person can be reformed, the second being retribution and the third being the protection of the public. “That’s the one I like,” he stated, referring to the protection of the public.

He then sentenced Wilson to be incarcerated for 12 months.(KR)