Room attendant pleads guilty to theft

After admitting to stealing two bags from guests at a South Coast hotel, and discarding their American passports, a 21-year-old hotel room attendant will return to court later this year for sentencing.

Jeniqua Naomi Cobham, of Society Hill, St John, pleaded guilty to two theft charges in the District ‘A’ Traffic Court.

On September 5, she stole a bag valued at $100, a passport valued at $263 and US$60 belonging to Valrie Brown. She also stole a $100 bag and a $263 passport belonging to Shanenae Hartley.

The court heard that Brown and Hartley, two American visitors, left their bags containing the passports in their room and returned later to find the property gone. A report was made to the police.

After there was no indication of forced entry, the electronic key card system was checked and detectives found that Cobham had entered the room around 1:23 p.m. 

When she was questioned the following day after returning to work, Cobham admitted to stealing the bags and said that she dumped the passports in the hotel’s skip and kept the money. She took the police to a storage room where she had placed one of the bags.

Prosecutor Sergeant Gazelda Knights objected to bail, telling the court that the act was one which struck at the heart of the tourism industry. Neither of the passports had been recovered.

Magistrate Jared Richards ordered a pre-sentence report for Cobham, who has no previous convictions, and granted bail at $2 500 with surety.

She will return to court on December 16.

(JB)