Serial burglar heads back to jail

For the next four and half years, properties in Barbados will be safe from the clutches of serial burglar Dario Arlington Hollingsworth.

The lifelong criminal will be incarcerated at HMP Dodds for that period, in keeping with the sentence handed down by Justice Christopher Birch when he reappeared in the No. 5A Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Hollingsworth, of No. 42 Golden Rock, Pinelands, St Michael, pleaded guilty earlier this year to entering Deborah Gall’s Golf Club Road, Christ Church home as a trespasser on January 19, 2014, and stealing 12 packs of curtains; 12 boxes of cereal; four tins of sausages; six tins of chips; one pack of linseed; one bracelet; two pairs of earrings; three necklaces; a drill; a screwdriver set; a hammer; a toothbrush set and two chairs. The items were valued at a total $12 962.50. 

In handing down the sentence which had been delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions, Justice Birch pointed to Hollingsworth’s 27 previous convictions and agreed with the starting sentence of 10 years that had been suggested by prosecutor Crown Counsel Keith Robertson.

However, he deducted two years for the systemic delay, one year for mitigating factors, and gave the convicted man a one-fifth discount for his guilty plea.

Hollingsworth did not receive the normal one-third discount because he initially pleaded not guilty and the matter went to trial. It was only during the trial that he changed his plea.

He was also credited with the 265 days he had spent on remand in relation to the offence.

Justice Birch advised the convicted man to take full advantage of the opportunities provided during his period of incarceration.

“Your actual sentence now is four years, six months. Please take the time during this period to take advantage of the educational opportunities and vocational therapy. Make the time work for you, don’t work the time. I wish you all the very best,” Justice Birch told Hollingsworth shortly before he was ushered away to begin his sentence.