Cell phone thief gets 18 months

Jun 01, 2012 News

A self-confessed cell phone thief was yesterday sentenced to 18 months in prison when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. The man, Julian Harlequin, pleaded guilty to the offence of larceny from the person, but claimed that he and the victim were in a relationship and he had purchased the cell phone.
The police said that on May 29, in Georgetown, Harlequin stole from the person of Wanny Griffith, one cellular phone valued at $38,000. The defendant wished to offer an explanation.
The police said that on the day in question, the victim was standing on Cornhill Street in the vicinity of the route 42 bus park, when Harlequin approached her and snatched her cell phone from her hand. He sought to escape, but the woman raised an alarm, and the thief was apprehended by two police officers on foot patrol.
After a search of his person, the phone was recovered in Harlequin’s pants pocket. He was taken to the Brickdam Police Station where he was told of the offence and later charged.
In an explanation to the court, Harlequin said that he had bought the cell phone for the victim. He said that he and the young lady were in a relationship and on the day in question, a man called her on the cell phone, and she refused to tell him who it was. He said he did not snatch the phone from the woman, but only took it away.
The Magistrate said she was not convinced by the defendant’s explanation, and thus called for the victim’s statement to be read. As the Magistrate perused the police’s case file she smiled at Harlequin and said, “The victim is not here but her statement is. You didn’t know that I would have that, did you?”
The defendant stood silent and was no longer smiling when the Magistrate started to read the victim’s statement.
The victim’s information revealed that she was standing at the bus park with a cousin when she noticed an identifiable male behind them. A positive description of the defendant was given in the statement; he was even clad in the same attire the victim had described in the statement.
To make matters worse, the court learnt that the defendant had appeared in the court twice before for matters of a similar nature. When asked, the defendant said that his last jail sentence was six months.
The court found that Harlequin’s defence was false and he was known for committing such acts. He was then sentenced to 18 months.

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Cell phone thief gets 18 months

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