A resident of Georgetown who stole items from a mini-mart will spend the next nine months behind bars after admitting that he stole the items for his Christmas.

Vivian Chin appeared in the Kingstown Magistrate Court on Wednesday, December 21, before Senior Magistrate, Rickie Burnett charged that on December 17, at Georgetown he entered the Triple-R mini-mart store room as a trespasser and stole one salt ham valued at $117.00; two cases of Gatorade valued at $280.00; two cases of monster energy drink valued at $160.00; one case of Serge Peanut Punch valued at $132.00; one case of village ram valued at $77.55; one case of non-alcoholic Heineken valued at $65.00; one case of small solo valued at $50.00; half a case of Full Throttle valued at $43.00; half case of Tus-T water valued at $191.10; half case of Lucozade valued at $77.00. A total value of $1021.35 the property of Triple- R minimart at Georgetown.

According to the facts, the virtual complainant is the supervisor in charge of stock taking and the store room at Triple- R mini-mart at Georgetown. He is also responsible for giving accountability of all items kept in the store room.

On December 19, the virtual complainant arrived at work and began his daily duties. Upon entering the store room which was secured by a padlock, he noticed that the door which was made of BRC wire and board was wide open. Upon further inspection, he noted that items were missing. As a result, the complainant went and checked the security cameras installed around the establishment.

While doing so, he saw Vivian Chin better known as ‘Chin Chin’ of Georgetown entering the store room between 4:00 a.m and 5:00 a.m and removing several bottled and canned drinks.

The virtual complainant knows Chin very well as he is occasionally employed by the establishment mainly to gather empty bottles. The matter was reported to the police and Chin admitted to the offence saying “officer ah something I wanted for my Christmas.”

A search was conducted at Chin’s home where several empty bottles and cans were found; the bottles and cans were of the drinks the complainant reported missing from the minimart. Chin was shown the items and was reminded that he in under caution when he said “man, officer me na done tell yo ah me tek e ting a dem.”

He was arrested and charged for the offence of burglary.

The Senior Magistrate sentenced the defendant to nine months in prison for the offence.