Several police and prison officers were forced to restrain and escort Rico Akeem Hepburn out of the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after he was sentenced to a year in prison.
On Tuesday, Hepburn admitted that between December 14 and 20, 2023, he entered Branker’s Warehouse and stole $5 151 in items, including clothing, suitcase sets, cosmetic bags, folding chairs and bathtubs belonging to Caribbean Sanari International Development, which trades as Big Tang. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting Jarie Jones on December 21, 2023.
During Hepburn’s reappearance before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes for sentencing, the court heard that on December 20, the virtual complainant informed the police that the warehouse on Fontabelle, St Michael had been broken into.
The following day, police were on duty in King’s Street when they observed the accused walking with a blue suitcase. They approached him but he ran before being apprehended. Several items, including clothing, were found in the suitcase. Hepburn was eventually held and taken to the police station, where the complainant identified the missing items as those from the warehouse. When interviewed, Hepburn said, “I just find them in the garbage”.
Regarding the assault charge, police were conducting an identification parade with the accused at Central Station when a witness was trying to point out who had broken into the warehouse. During the parade, the accused cuffed the witness on the side of his face.
Hepburn has 25 previous convictions, several under the Theft Act. His last conviction was in August 2023 when he was placed on a 12-month bond to keep the peace. With his guilty pleas, that bond, which carries a three-month custodial sentence, has been breached.
“As the man said, I got 25 previous convictions. I don’t see how prison is going to change my life, Sir. I was trying my best to transform myself into a different individual but I just find myself in things like these,” Hepburn said before pleading to be placed on a bond or referred to Verdun House for rehabilitation.
Denying those requests, Weekes said, “There is no way that a witness comes to an ID parade and you assault the man. This impacts on the administration of justice. Further to that, you broke the bond by pleading guilty.”
Telling Hepburn that he would receive drug counselling at Dodds, the chief magistrate imposed nine-month sentences for the theft and the assault, to run concurrently, and three months for breaking the bond, to run consecutively to the other prison terms.
“I am not going to get any help in prison. I now do a five-year sentence in the High Court, and the order was sent to put me in a drug programme and an anger management programme. I did my whole sentence and was not put in anything…. This is just going to be three steps back for me,” Hepburn stated.
“Well, get your act together!” Weekes stressed.
Hepburn continued to argue against the sentence while being handcuffed and taken from the docks by prison officers before the chief magistrate gave the directive to take him out of the court.
However, when the officers sought to lead him to the doors, the convicted man began to struggle, forcing police officers in the court to further restrain him before taking him down the stairs and into the prison bus.
