Suspended sentence handed to phone thief

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St James man who robbed a woman of an iPhone valued at US$600 was handed a suspended sentence in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Twenty-two-year-old labourer Derval Chambers of a Rose Mount address in Montego Bay was given a two-year suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to larceny from the person, which was committed against Petrina Barker.

The facts of the case are that on February 13 at approximately 9:30 p.m., Barker was sitting in a taxi along Fish Lane in Montego Bay making a call when Chambers approached the car, grabbed the phone, and ran off.

Chambers was caught with the phone in his possession along Barnett Street by police officers. He was arrested and charged after Baker identified her phone.

In court on Monday, Chambers' mother told Resident Magistrate Sheron Barnes that she was surprised to hear that her son had committed such an act.

"I have never heard of him stealing or anything, and I am shocked," the mother told the court. "He was working at a wholesale, but he said he was going to leave the job because the pay wasn't high enough."

"That's why him go steal the woman's iPhone," remarked the magistrate.

In putting himself at the mercy of the court, Chambers told the judge that he had learned his lesson from the experience.

"I have learned a vital lesson. I need some discipline," said Chambers. "Is pressure I get pressured to grab the phone. I had just put my girlfriend on a bus to Cambridge, and I was approached by a guy who (encouraged) me to do it."

"So where is the guy? Is he sitting next to you?" asked Barnes.

"No, miss," said Chambers, seemingly embarrassed by the situation in which he had found himself.

"The sentence of the court is two years (imprisonment), suspended for three years," said Barnes, before ordering that Chambers' fingerprints be recorded.