Burglary pain remains

Nine years after an aggravated burglary at their home, an elderly St Andrew couple remains traumatised by the incident and it remains fresh in their minds, a report by the Probation Department has shown.

However, two of the culprits involved in the crime, 41-year-old Carol Ann Veronica Roett, of Dunscombe and 34-year-old Tiffany Corita Arthur, of Content Land, both in St Thomas told separate probation officers that they were remorseful for their actions on December 28, 2010.

They had pleaded guilty at a previous sitting in the No. 5 Supreme Court to entering the house of Ian Pickup and stealing a camera, wallet and a handheld video game belonging to him as well as three necklaces, a lighter and two rings belonging to his wife Donna Marie Henderickson. At the time the burglars were armed with a piece of wood and a knife.

Reading the presentencing report before Madam Justice Pamela Beckles yesterday, the probation officer said the couple who wrote a statement to her department detailing the impact of the incident made it clear that they were “unsympathetic to the persons” involved.

The couple said the incident left behind “physical scars that remain as vivid remainders” and they were forced to make “costly renovations” to their home in order to “reinforce” their safety.

“They said their trauma was compounded by the fact that they were unaware of the status of the matters in the criminal justice system over the past nine years notwithstanding their numerous court appearances.

“Despite the protracted period which has elapsed the couple is unsympathetic to the persons who invaded their privacy, intruded into their home and stole items of sentimental value . . . . ‘We would not like the time that has passed to be thought of as having lessened the
the severity of the trauma,’” the probation officer read.

She said that Pickup detailed the injuries he suffered during the incident which had left his wife “jumpy” so much so that she now insisted on having a “quiet” house in order to hear what was going on around her and on the outside.

Arthur, a mother of one, in the report expressed a desire to apologise to the couple and was assessed as being a low-risk offender and had no previous convictions. Meanwhile, Roett, who is the mother of five children, had two previous convictions and was considered at high risk of re-offending.

Crown Counsel Oliver Thompson is the prosecutor in the case while Arthur is represented by attorney-at-law Samuel Legay. Roett is unrepresented by legal counsel.

The two will reappear before Justice Beckles tomorrow, September 5.