Thief must repay grandmother $24 000 to avoid jail

Admitted thief Nia Keambi Chanice Reid will stay out of prison, but will have to find the money to repay her grandmother who she robbed of more than $24 000.

Taking into consideration the grandmother’s plea and Reid’s young age of 21 years at the time of the offence and her previously clean record, Justice Randall Worrell imposed the order on the Bonnetts New Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael, resident.

She had admitted to entering the dwelling house of her grandmother, Sharon Reid, as a trespasser, and stealing a Union safe, four keys, £4 500, US$1 090, BDS$10 100, three cheques belonging to Sharon Reid and seven Barbados passports, with a total value of BDS$24,805.30, on October 20, 2019.

“We note that your grandmother does not want you to go to prison — the court takes that into consideration — and that she should prefer to have her money repaid—the sum of $24 000 to which you have agreed. However, in these circumstances, the court still has to pass a sentence on you…. Persons’ homes are their castles, regardless of whether you are related to them or not, and to break into someone’s home and to steal items worth $24 000, inclusive of cash, is a very serious offence,” the judge said, before giving a starting point of six years.

The judge then deducted two years given Reid’s age, previously clean record, expression of remorse and employment status. After credit was given for her early guilty plea, time spent on remand, and the delay in the matter being brought to trial, Reid was left with 842 days to serve if she does not pay the compensation.

“You have two years and 16 weeks to pay back this money. If you do not pay this money back, you will have to spend 842 days in prison, but I must say that should be calculated by any court on a pro-ratio basis,” Justice Worrell said. “What I mean is that if you have paid back half of the money, you would not be expected to spend the full time.”

State Counsel Dr Zoe King had told the court that the virtual complainant left her residence after securing all the doors and windows around 11:55 a.m. on the stated date. When she returned an hour later, a neighbour told her someone had been in the house. When she checked, she found that the window in her grandson’s room had been opened and the safe in her bedroom was missing. The theft was reported to the police.

In her written statement, the now-convicted woman stated that she had been in her grandmother’s bedroom the day before the incident and saw the safe. She wanted to take it, but too many people were in the house. She returned the next day when no one was in the house, entered through a back bedroom window, took up the safe, placed it in her haversack, and left.

On October 29, police officers, acting on information received, went to Grantley Adams International Airport. They saw the now-convicted woman in the Arrivals Hall and arrested her for the theft.