A month after denying a robbery charge, Shamar Shaquane Erwin Inniss threw in the towel and was sentenced to nine months in prison – but he will not have to spend a day behind bars if he stays out of trouble.
That’s because Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes suspended the sentence for 18 months.
The 27-year-old Prescod Bottom, Hindsbury Road, St Michael resident reappeared in the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, after being remanded to Dodds Prison last month on a charge of robbing Trevor Hollingsworth of a Bluetooth speaker valued at $25, and $375 in cash on March 16. He had also denied having in his possession apparatus fit and intended for the misuse of cocaine on the same day.
Outlining the facts of the case, prosecutor Randolph Boyce said Hollingsworth was in Greenfield, St Michael, that day when he was held up by Inniss, who was armed with a knife and was with an accomplice.
Owning up to the charges, Inniss asked the court for leniency, saying that he had recently lost a father figure and wanted to attend his funeral.
“He owed me money and told me what he had pun he . . . but I did not use any knife or gun,” he said about this crime against Hollingsworth.
He further admitted to using cocaine but said he was trying to turn his life around, especially for his children.
Noting that there were serious aggravating factors in the robbery offence, including that a knife was used and that Inniss had an accomplice, the chief magistrate considered Inniss’ previously clean record, his guilty plea and the representation he made in his defence.
“As a first time offender, I am going to give you nine months suspended for 18 months. It means that you will go home today, but it also means for the next year and a half, you will have to stay out of trouble, otherwise you will have to serve nine months. I know how men are in the streets, but you now have 18 months to navigate. Don’t think you are tricking me because you will only trick yourself . . . . So you can go to your relative’s funeral, but you have to pull yourself together. If you go and mess it up, don’t blame me. I am giving you an opportunity,” Weekes said.
Inniss replied, “I want to give you the utmost respect for giving me a chance to go and show condolences to the deceased person.”
He was reprimanded and discharged for the apparatus.
