Convict apologizes for seven-year-old crime

Crown Counsel Joyann Catwell says members of the public receiving items for which they cannot give account are displaying “unacceptable” behaviour.

The prosecutor made the comment as she made submissions in a case relating to handling of stolen property brought against Randall Jason Antonio Brathwaite, of no fixed place of abode.

He was convicted after he pleaded guilty to handling a haversack, a bangle, a laptop, a cellular phone, a flash drive and an external hard drive worth $6 019.58  – on August 5, 2014 – knowing or believing them to be stolen. The property belonged to Denniston Small.

Addressing Madam Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell on Friday Catwell submitted that the convicted man should have a starting sentence of seven years in prison for his crime.

The prosecutor pointed to the fact that the offence had resulted in Small suffering a financial loss as the items were his primary tools in his trade as a DJ which he did to supplement his income.

Also aggravating she said was the “high level of inconvenience” that Small had also suffered, the degree of planning and the fact that Brathwaite had 11 prior offences including those for robbery, burglary and theft.

Catwell also reminded the No. 4 Supreme Court that the culprit had been assessed as being a moderate to high risk of reoffending.

“The Crown deems the now convicted man a threat to society,” the prosecutor submitted while acknowledging that Brathwaite’s guilty plea and the fact that the property was recovered went in his favour.

From the starting sentence she said a one-third discount should be given for his guilty plea and a deduction for the time he had spent on remand at Dodds.

“I want to implore everyone not to handle stolen property. Don’t take something unless you can account for it.

“This crime has to stop. A message must be sent that this crime is totally unacceptable,” Catwell said.

However, while Brathwaite’s attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens agreed with the mitigating and aggravating factors of the case put forward by the prosecutor she urged the court to impose a sentence that would result in Brathwaite being released since he had spent some five years on remand.

“So put him on a path that he can get a job and get out of the system,” Mitchell-Gittens submitted, a short while after Brathwaite apologized for the crime.

“Truthfully I sometimes think about how that person must have felt. I am really sorry for my actions. I would like to apologize not just to the court and the complainant but also to society and my family as well,” Braithwaite said.