Arnos Vale mango thief ordered to pay owner $200, put on bond for one year

An Arnos Vale resident nicknamed “Country” has been bonded and ordered to pay compensation of $200 after he stole mangoes from a property despite being warned multiple times to cease.

Terrence Toby’s crime was captured on cameras set up at the property of 56-year-old Donald Findley.

Findley resides in the British Virgin Islands but his brother is the caretaker for his property in Arnos Vale.

There is a tree on this property that had several ripe mangoes. The brother of Findley has had to warn Toby, said to be 43 years old, multiple times, telling him not to pick these mangoes. However, this was apparently “all to no avail”, according to the facts prepared by the police.

On September 8, the brother was reviewing the CCTV footage when he observed Toby on the property picking the mangoes at around 6:18 pm.

The police picked up the defendant for the offence of theft after they saw this footage, and he verbally admitted to the crime.

He also admitted to the crime when he appeared before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, September 15.
The Arnos Vale resident who says he works on a truck, was asked by Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett why he went back after being warned.

He said something in reply, to which the judicial officer said that being warned has one meaning. “Having been warned, if you are hungry, find another place to go and eat, not there.”

However, Burnett told him that he did not believe him about wanting something to eat.

When asked what he was planning to do with the mangoes, Toby replied that he was going to put them to ripe and to sell them. Some of them were ripe and some of them were green, he said.

“You know Mr Toby there’s a problem in St Vincent, a serious problem where farmers, landowners, they are competing with persons like you,” the magistrate told him.

However, he noted that the two mitigating factors in his favour were his guilty plea and the fact that there was no criminal record before the court for him.

The defendant said he didn’t have any money in his pocket when asked in court.

In the end, Burnett ordered compensation of $200, to be paid by October 30, or there will be a default of three months in prison activated.

Additionally, he bonded Toby for one year in the sum of $1000. Therefore, should he breach the bond, get into trouble with the law again, he must pay this sum forthwith or spend six months in prison.

“Stop this. Stop tief,” the magistrate told the defendant before standing down the matter.