CXC’s but nothing to show

A Queen’s College graduate with five CXC certificates, unemployed and no fixed place of abode, was chided by a Bridgetown magistrate today for wasting his qualifications and competencies.

“I am going to impose a bond on you. You went to one of the older secondary schools…with five CXCs and have done nothing with them. You now have your first criminal conviction,” District “A” Criminal Court No. 1 Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant told Winston Ricardo Bonnett.

Bonnett, 24, is charged that on January 13, 2020, he trespassed in the home of Ethel Marley with intent to commit theft.

He is also accused of loitering on the premises of Yellow Bird Hotel in St Lawrence Gap on February 3, 2020, when he was suspected to be about to steal.

The 24-year-old pleaded guilty to the charges.

However, the pleadings for a second chance by the accused and an impassioned mitigation were not enough to save him from being sentenced to time served for 37 days and an 18-month bond to keep the peace.  The magistrate warned Bonnett that if he breached the bond he would have to pay the court $2,000 with the alternative of six months in jail.

Cuffy-Sargeant contended that in light of the stain Barbados has been receiving for offences against visitors, particularly the most recent shooting against a Canadian national who was left paralysed, she could not give Bonnett a “slap on the wrist”.

“I am trying to start my life properly in Canada,” Bonnett stated who was scheduled to return there today to be with his girlfriend.

The court accepted a commitment that he will now be living at his older brother in Husbands, St James.