Youth requests counselling after being jailed for cellphone theft

A youth who requested counselling sessions from the court to help him stay out of trouble, has been sentenced to prison for five months for stealing a cellphone.

Tyrone Prince, a 20-year-old unemployed youth of Sion Hill and Glen was sentenced by magistrate John Ballah at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, September 6.

“Sometimes I go dey good all the time…and something go happen and then I’ll just go trouble something and then end up in here,” the five-time offender told the magistrate, while asking about counselling services.

Prince was charged with stealing one blue Samsung Galaxy A12 cellular phone valued US$600 on August 10 2023, the property of Dillon Cruickshank of Cane Garden.

On Tuesday, September 5 2023 about 12:00 midnight Cruickshank was on his way home from a shop where he was playing dominoes. While walking, he looked behind him and saw an unknown man dressed in a grey hoodie running towards him.

The man approached Cruickshank and told him to give him all he had. The man then reached into Cruickshank’s right front pocket and took his cellphone, jumped over a wall and ran away.

The matter was reported to the police.

PC 217 John investigated the report and received information that Prince was the man who took the cellphone. On September 5, he met the Prince at Little Tokyo, informed him of the report that had been made against him and arrested him on suspicion.

Upon arrival at the station, Prince handed over one blue Samsung Galaxy A12 cellphone to John and stated that it was the cellphone he took from Cruickshank. Later on the same day, Prince was cautioned and interviewed in the presence of another officer.

He volunteered a statement admitting to the offence, after which, Cruickshank was shown the cellphone which he identified as his. Prince was then charged with theft, and entered a guilty plea before the court.

Prince told the court that his actions were not pre-meditated and that it was on the spur of the moment that he decided to rob Cruickshank.

The magistrate referred to the sentencing guidelines and found that based on the value of the phone, the consequence of the offence fell into category three (the lowest level); and based on the seriousness, the offence fell into Level C (the lowest level) and so he began with a custodial sentence of two months.

When the aggravating and mitigating factors of the offence were considered, none were found. Aggravating of the offender was that Prince has previous convictions, all of which are offences of dishonesty, and so six months was added to his sentence. There were no mitigating factors of the offender.

The court then considered Prince’s guilty plea and offered him a one-third discount of three months. This brought his final custodial sentence to five months. His bond for theft which he committed in February this year was also activated.

After Prince had been sentenced, he asked the magistrate if the court offers counselling sessions.

However, Ballah informed him that the court does not have that system in place, but the prison has a host of programs to assist young people.