Burglar thankful he did not get a longer sentence

A Campden Park resident who broke into a gas station last week, claiming that he didn’t know what got into his head, has expressed thanks that he was sentenced to only two years imprisonment.

Orwin Small was sentenced at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, January 27 for the offences of damage to property and burglary of Philo’s gas station in Questelles, owned by 59-year-old businessman, Wendell Phillips.

The incident occurred between January 18, and January 19. The supervisor of the gas station had left everything in order on the night of January 18, but early the following morning Phillips found the glass and steel frame show window on the Eastern side was broken.

Underneath the window lay a stone, and broken glass.

The Questelles police station was informed, and PC 515 Haywood visited the scene, met with Phillips and reviewed the store’s CCTV footage. Small was seen on this footage, removing $1313.78 worth of items, from materials needed for car maintenance, to various beverages, a Kettle, a newspaper, hand soaps and ice cream.

Further investigations were carried out and Haywood received some information which caused him to go to a particular area in Questelles, where some of the missing items were found on a wall.

The defendant was located in Campden Park, and taken into custody. He admitted to the police “is me who break the gas station.”

He led them to his home, and they recovered a quantity of the items.

However, only around half of the stolen items were recovered.

The defendant seemed to be telling Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett that he had been smoking marijuana at the gas station, and he doesn’t know what went into his head to “do this kinda stupidness”.

He also seemed to be saying that intoxication and the devil had something to do with it.

However, the magistrate noted that he had many previous convictions.

“You were given several chances. You were fined, you were ordered to pay compensation, everything,” he told him.

Small said that people make mistakes and that he is not perfect.

“Well if you make mistakes you have to be prepared to suffer the consequences of your action, and that is what is going to happen to you this morning,” the magistrate said, “When you go in to prison you will stay inside and sit down and say ‘boy I should not have done this thing, I will not do it again’.”

Small said that since he got locked up in Questelles he was saying “that”.

He was asked what he was saying.

“What I really get myself in. What could really go innah my head to make I do this kinda stupidness,” Small said.

Based on the sentencing guidelines, precedent at the Court of Appeal, the magistrate chose to start at three years incarceration.

Aggravating factors include the prevalence of burglary in the country, “A business owner should be able to lock up his business, go home, and come back and meet it intact and not to be subjected to this type of behaviour that was done by you, not at all.”

Further, some of the items were not recovered, and Small has a record of similar offences.

A reduction was applied for the guilty plea, and this took the sentence to two years.

For damage to the property worth $178.88, the sentence was three months incarceration.

These sentences will be concurrent.

After he returned to his seat, the defendant said “I say it coulda been more, it coulda been more. I give thanks.”