9-month sentence for man who committed crime ‘under the influence’

Mar 01, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Thirty-year-old Christopher Gonsalves, who had told the court that he was under the influence of alcohol when he committed a robbery, was on Monday sentenced to nine months imprisonment for the offence.

Jailed, Christopher Gonsalves.

Gonsalves of Independence Boulevard, Albouystown, Georgetown, had made his first court appearance on February 1, 2022, in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus. On that court date, he pleaded guilty to the charge, which alleged that on January 21, 2022 at Camp Street, Werk-en-Rust, he stole from Otas Iobahan and Shanet Daly, several items and a sum of cash.
As such, he was remanded to prison pending a probation report for sentencing. On Monday, when the matter continued, Gonsalves in his address to the court begged for mercy, and requested that the Magistrate only give him three or four months. He even noted that the items he had stolen were returned.
Despite his plea, the police prosecutor requested that the defendant be sentenced for nine months, while stating that he is a menace to society. Additionally, the probation officer stated that Gonsalves needed to be punished but also rehabilitated.
The Principal Magistrate sentenced Gonsalves to nine months in prison for the offence but the one month that he spent on remand was deducted from his sentence.
According to reports, on the day in question, Gonsalves broke into the home of Iobahan and robbed him and his girlfriend, Daly, of the following items: one purse, one Nigerian passport, one laptop, one cellphone, more than $200,000 in cash and some personal items. Upon making checks, the couple discovered that the items listed above were missing.
Iobahan claimed that around 00:30hrs, he secured his apartment and went to bed, however, about 03:30hrs his girlfriend woke him and told him the apartment was broken into.
They reported the matter to law enforcement and an investigation was launched. Police ranks acting on information they received, contacted Gonsalves and told him of the allegations which he confessed to and stated that the articles had been returned to the victims.
It was further stated that Gonsalves claimed that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crime. He also claimed that the door to the couple’s home was “open” and added that he was unaware of his actions. However, Iobahan stated that the door could not have been open and insisted that Gonsalves opened the back door and entered. Iobahan further claimed that the bag was returned, however, his passport was not.
Gonsalves is no stranger to the law; he was released from prison in June 2021 after serving three years for attempting to bribe a police officer to get out of a narcotics charge.

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