Second case of debit card fraud gets Walrond more prison time

man already serving time for going on a shopping spree with a stolen Visa debit card earlier this year has been given additional time in prison for another purchase he made in The City.

Calling the behaviour of a now convicted man “systematic lawless behaviour”, Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes informed Travis Alexander Hamilton Walrond that in addition to the six months he is now serving for using the card to make purchases at several businesses in the Oistins jurisdiction, he will spend an additional six months at Dodds Prison for using the card at a wholesale store in Bridgetown.

“You must be taught that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated!” the magistrate told the 36-year-old from Apple Hall, Terrace Drive, St Philip.

In June, Walrond appeared in the Oistins Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining items from H&E Electronics, The Phone Shop, and Double Bar Trading Wholesale and Retail valued at $20, $500 and $62, respectively, with the intention of depriving Natalie Yarde thereof by falsely representing that he was in lawful possession of her Visa debit card and that he had authority to use it on May 27.

He also admitted that on that same day, he engaged directly in a transaction to purchase one cell phone case valued at $20, a cell phone valued at $500, and a bottle of liquor valued at $62, the proceeds of crime.

Walrond, who has seven previous convictions, was sentenced to six months imprisonment for those crimes.

Appearing before Magistrate Weekes on Friday, Walrdon confessed to dishonestly obtaining from JG’s Wholesale Discount Centre, items to the value of $71.53 with the intention of depriving Natalie Yarde thereof by falsely representing that he, the accused, was in lawful possession of her Visa debit card and that he had authority to use it, and to engaging directly in a transaction to purchase a bottle of liquor and a meal replacement shake valued at $71.53, the proceeds of crime.

These offences also took place on May 27.

Saying that his client had already been punished for his crime and was serving time, Walrond’s attorney Elson Gaskin told the court that Walrond was willing to compensate the complainant.

However, Magistrate Weekes was adamant that Walrond had a sense of entitlement, acting as though he should benefit from the “hard work of law-abiding citizens”.

“This is what Barbados has become – a place where hardworking people must suffer, and the people who commit crimes are to be embraced by the system. It is foolishness!” he said. “We are having cases in this country where persons are systematically committing crimes. So, I move from business to business with what is not mine, and then they walk in here after Bajans sacrifice, and he is now to pay compensation. Unbelievable!”

He imposed a six-month sentence for the offences to run consecutively with Walrond’s current prison term.

“You get six more months to sit and reflect and consider your actions,” the chief magistrate said.