Godfrey Pereira, the 19-year-old facing a prison sentence after admitting to steal a cellphone earlier this month, was yesterday given two years’ probation by the Chief Magistrate after agreeing to a number of conditions, including joining a trade school.
Pereira was remanded to prison on February 9 after he admitted that he had stolen a cellphone from a car he had been tasked with washing. The Samsung Galaxy smartphone was owned by his father’s boss, who would normally use the wash bay where the youngster was employed. After a wash on February 6, the phone was discovered missing when it was returned. Pereira subsequently admitted to the crime.
Lawyer Peter Hugh had made an impromptu appeal on Pereira’s behalf, stating that jail would only make the youth much worse.
In his second court appearance, details of the first-time offender’s life were read to Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry by a probation officer, including the fact that he had come from a stable family.
Once again Hugh emphasised the ill effects of prison, while noting that a previous client of his that had been recently released from jail was already again before the courts on an armed robbery charge.
After considerations were made by the magistrate, Pereira was granted probation on the conditions that he joined a trade school, submit himself regularly to an assigned probation officer, and USAID Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) programme for literacy and career opportunities.
Pereira had initially declined the probation report. However, after Hugh sternly pointed out that it was either trade school or jail, the young man changed his mind.
Sewnarine-Beharry stressed that if he failed to comply with the conditions laid down, he would be brought before the courts again for sentencing.
