Man’s ‘tiefing mistake’ lands him back in prison

Nearly 50 years into his life, a 48-year-old fell back into thievery after abstaining for over a decade, and now he will spend nine months atoning for his ‘mistake.’

“I go there and I make a mistake…,” said Alwyn Delplesche, “I went to the store…eventually, I saw the things and thought I could’ve get it. And I put it in the bag and I get out the store,” he continued.

At this moment, the defendant, of Longwall, Kingstown, had probably thought that he had gotten away with his act of thievery on May 26 at the Price Buster Store. However, the store clerk soon noticed that a bag containing four ladies’ dresses, two children tops and two jackets was missing. The clerk then made a report to the manager, who checked the CCTV (closed circuit television).

This revealed all elements of the theft to them, most especially the perpetrator.

Therefore, when Delplesche was spotted this Monday, the police took him into custody, recognizing him from said footage.

The defendant remained mute for the police, and none of the items were found on his premises. It wasn’t until he was shown himself on the camera that he offered “Yeah that’s me.”

This admittance followed his being charged on Tuesday with stealing $125 worth of items from the Price Buster Store.

Delplesche diligently answered Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett’s questions, saying that he was working. He said that he worked unloading by the waterfront, and sometimes at the flour mill. “Every container I unload, I get $35,” he told Burnett.

He said that he has two kids, and when asked their ages, he responded that they were 27 and 18 years old.

“And you call them what…kids?” the senior magistrate asked.

These questions were asked in investigating the reason that the 48-year-old male defendant could have for stealing women’s dresses and children’s clothing.

“I give friend and ting,” Delplesche responded to the query. “I ain’t sell them, I give them to two girls,” he stated in denying this suggestion.

Delplesche himself admitted to going to prison for six months for theft 12 or 13 years ago.

The reason given for the relapse was, “just being presumptuous…that’s all I could say.” He asked that he be given a fine.

“If you’re presumptuous, as you say… my job here is to punish you,” Burnett informed.

“You broke the law without a good reason,” he continued, “my job is to make you feel uncomfortable.”

He said that an aggravating feature of the matter was that the items were not recovered.

The 48-year-old said that his daughter would be able to help him pay a fine.

“I don’t even want to embarrass her by letting her come in to see her tiefing father,” Burnett returned.

The representative from Price Buster, busted any hopes Delplesche had, after saying, “my boss don’t want he pay for it.”

“You understand what that means? Her boss is thinking like me,” the senior magistrate told him.

“Let the tax payers maintain you for nine months,” he decided.