McCollin told to clean up his act

Burglar Corey Omar Jerome McCollin has been given a final chance to turn his life around.

“This is your last opportunity to sort yourself out Mr McCollin. Your [pre-sentencing] report does not speak highly of you . . . and you have walked this path before,” Justice Randall Worrell told the 33-year-old convict, of no fixed place of abode, as he sentenced him to seven years in prison.

McCollin had pleaded guilty to a January 2017 charge of aggravated burglary with use of a firearm.

However, the High Court judge explained the reasoning for the sentence being at the “lower end” was due to the fact that no one was injured; nothing was lost and there was minimal damage to the property.

“When one looks at aggravated burglary this is at the lower end of the scale. What you did have was, what was purported to be a firearm in the mind of the person, whether you had a firearm or not . . . even if one has an imitation of a firearm . . . or has one’s finger in one’s shirt or whatever.

“I also must indicate that you did not have a firearm with you . . . but it is quite clear that is how the whole concept was in the mind of the person. That it was aggravating in the way you approached . . . indicating that you had a firearm of some sort,” Justice Worrell explained.

Taking that into consideration, the judge sentenced him to seven years in prison or 2,555 days. A third discount or 851 days was then credited for McCollin’s guilty plea reducing the time to 1,704 days.

The convict, who has nine other prior convictions, was also credited for the 1,029 days that he has spent on remand at Dodds giving him a sentence of 675 days. A further 180 days was taken into consideration given the delay in McCollin’s matter, as he was one of the persons desirous of pleading guilty, leaving him with 495 more days to serve behind bars.

McCollin has also been ordered to take part in the drug rehabilitation programme at the St Philip institution based on reports of his use of illegal substances.

A report must also be forwarded for the No. 2 Supreme Court in six months outlining McCollin’s progress.

“This is your last opportunity to sort yourself out,” the judge warned.