Father to pay, son gets flogging

Superintendent of Police, Horace Williams, only managed to recover a bottle of cologne and some After Shave lotion, after a 14-year-old boy burglarized his home on July 25, 2009 at Stoney Grounds.{{more}}

Unfortunately, he was unable to recover a Seiko watch, a gold ring, a gold wedding band and a gold chain all valued at $4,250.60. At the Kingstown Magistrates Court on Monday this week, the boy pleaded guilty to stealing the items. Senior Magistrate Donald Browne ordered his father pay compensation for the missing jewellery. The boy also pleaded guilty to attempting to break into the House of Hope Society Building at Stoney Ground on August 1.

On the second charge, the Senior Magistrate ordered that the boy be given 10 lashes from the police. He was placed on a 7pm -6am curfew for the next year.

The court heard that on July 25, Superintendent Williams secured his home and went away. When he returned later that day, he met a window open and the items missing. On August 1 at around 6:30 a.m., Williams heard a banging sound on the House of Hope Building. When he looked outside, he saw the boy with a wall chisel chipping away at the front door of the building.

Williams apprehended the boy, who admitted to breaking into Williams house on July 25. The boy told police that after he stole the items that night, he went to Kingstown and fell asleep. He said when he woke up, a man was standing over him. He said he did not know where the jewellery had disappeared to.

The boy’s father, who told the court that he works for $600 a fortnight, was given a year to pay the compensation or he risks going to prison for six months. “Your worship, I don’t know if I can handle that, but I go have to try and see what I could do,” the father lamented. He has to pay $355 each month for the next 12 months.

“You’re an awful little boy…instead of turning to something decent, you have gone down the road of criminality. I don’t want to see you back here… go and study your lesson,” Browne sternly warned.(KW)