Repeat praedial larcenists sentenced to six years

Two livestock thieves were yesterday sentenced to spend a total of six years in prison for stealing over $100,000 worth of sheep and goats from a government paddock and a farmer.
Repeat offender Kenrick Wiltshire who has seven previous convictions for praedial larceny, pleaded guilty to stealing 48 goats and sheep, in three separate incidents, between June and July 2015.
At his sentencing yesterday, Wiltshire told the court: “I had a newborn and my baby mother was not working and I did it to put food in the house. I didn’t do anything good but I’m pleading for leniency.”
The man’s attorney, Sherfield Bowen, told the court that he does not know what to make of the 30 year old’s claims that he will get his life together because he has been his advocate since 2011 and the praedial larcenist had shown no signs of letting up because his crimes have escalated.
“The conduct is reprehensible,” Bowen said as he asked Justice Keith Thom not to consider the maximum penalty of five years. “He indicated he not coming back but I don’t know how to make of that. The only good thing about this is that they got eight of the animals back. The value of property is so great … the circumstances are disturbing and one wonders when it will come to an end.”
On June 12, 2015, an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture secured the animals at Betty’s Hope for the weekend and on his return, he noticed duct tape on the road leading to the paddock and eight sheep missing. The missing animals are valued at $24,000.
Then on June 20, 2015, at the same paddock, another agriculture worker secured the animals again and returned the next day and found one side of the pen was cut and seven sheep and three goats, valued at $30,000, missing.
Just over a week later, Wiltshire struck again, this time at Dave Joseph’s farm at Lower Lyons Estate and stole 30 heads of sheep valued at $46,100. This time, also, he had an accomplice — Michael Telemaque.
On July 8, 2015, lawmen came upon the two accused in a rented vehicle in a bushy area and eight sheep were recovered with their feet bound with duct tape, but one had been slaughtered and was found in a bucket in the trunk.
Telemaque escaped the lawmen  but while in custody Wiltshire admitted to stealing 30 sheep with his co-accused.
On each count of stealing the government’s animals, Wiltshire was sentenced to three years in jail, to run concurrently, and for stealing Joseph’s sheep he will spend an additional three years behind bars.
Telemaque, 34, was sentenced to two years for assisting with the crime.
The men were jointly charged with Delmar Johnson and Jason Jeffery but both of them were set free after prosecutor Shannon Jones-Gittens offered no evidence against them.