Fifteen year old boy remanded

A 15-year-old student was remanded into custody when he pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary.{{more}}

The boy appeared at the Kingstown Magistrates Court on Tuesday, September 15, 2009.

He was charged with stealing EC$704 worth of Dell computer speakers, flash drives and rewritable CDs from the Service Commission Department between May 8 and 11, 2009.

He was additionally charged with stealing EC $1,104, the property of the National HIV/AIDS Secretariat, from the Ministry of Health’s Nutrition Unit between June 8 and 16, 2009.

The boy’s father, who appeared in court with him, said he lived at home but then ran away for two months, during which time both father and mother tried to find him. The boy’s father said they sought the help of the police to locate him.

Senior Magistrate Donald Browne then asked the boy why he ran away and where he went. In response, the boy, dressed in his full school uniform, replied that he ran away for no reason, and that he “stayed with himself” in a house at Arnos Vale.

Browne, with a surprised expression, said: “Stayed with yourself! What you mean?! Was it your house?”

The boy replied softly: “No.”

Magistrate Browne was about to release the boy into his father’s custody when prosecutor Sergeant Glenford Gregg interjected: “I know this case, your Worship. If it is one case that lacks parental guidance, this is it.”

Gregg charged that the boy’s parents did not look for him, adding that although he was dressed in full uniform he did not attend school.

The boy told the magistrate that he was a Form 2 student.

The facts surrounding the offences were not read in court and the boy’s sentence was deferred, pending a social inquiry report.