Six months in jail for burglar with multiple names

A 29-year-old man who gave police a fake name has been jailed for six months for burglary.

Brandon Keron Akeem Coward, said to have no fixed place of abode, had appeared before Magistrate Kim Butcher on Monday under the name Brandon Akeem Boyce.

He was remanded overnight after he had asked for the court’s help, following his guilty plea to the charge of entering the home of Junior Arlington Thomas as a trespasser on April 21 and stealing $418.75 in items, including two watches, a small bottle of perfume and three separate money bags containing a total of $98.75.

However, when he reappeared before Magistrate Butcher in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon, prosecuting officer Ralph Rollock disclosed that the name on the charge sheet was not the man’s real name and that he had three different names.

Constable Rollock disclosed that his real name was Brandon Keron Akeem Coward and not only did he have criminal convictions but he was recently released from prison.

“Information received this morning is that his mother said that she is not coming to the court. This court was inclined yesterday to grant [him] an opportunity to have some kind of counselling bearing in mind that we believed that he needed assistance, he needed help . . . .

“All of this time, Mr Boyce is operating under false names. . . . This kind of behaviour the court must frown upon,” Rollock said as he asked for an amendment to the charge sheet to reflect the convict’s real name, and that he be sentenced accordingly.

Magistrate Butcher then asked the burglar his name, to which he replied, “Brandon Coward”.

Asked why he lied to the police, Coward responded: “I was in the police station for five days. Every time I go to prison, even when I went prison up to last night them try to put something in my food and then they try to say I crazy, all those sort of things, torture me, beat me, all dem sort of things, then send me to the mental. Dem is de tings they does do, Ma’am.

“Everybody up there against me and these wardens know that too. They had to remove me from off of three blocks already and put me pun security. The man that in charge of security turn round and say he ain’t want me on security. They targeting me, this body threatening me, this body saying I crazy,” Coward said before he was sentenced for his crime.