By Latrishka Thomas
A 19-year-old resident of Gray’s Farm was sentenced to spend a year and three months behind bars for breaking into three homes and stealing several items.
Mark Jarvis’ crime spree began on July 17 when he was 18 years of age.
At around 6am, a man locked up his house and went to work and when he returned to his Cooks Hill home, he found the back door open.
Upon searching the premises, he realised that a number of items were missing and reported the matter to the police.
The items included Timberland boots, pants and hats worth $1,773.
Then, on July 20, another Cooks Hill man left his dwelling in the early hours of the morning, however, he did not secure it.
He returned at around midday and found his house ransacked.
A further search revealed that some jewellery, valued at $495, had been stolen.
The defendant’s third victim was a Tanner Street man who left home about 5pm on July 31 and returned at around 11pm to find a window had been pried open and that someone had rifled through his belongings and stolen $1,239 worth of items.
Police investigations into each of the incidents led to Jarvis, who admitted to the two counts of breaking, entering and larceny, and one of larceny.
After he appeared before St John’s Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh sentenced Jarvis to six months in prison each for the first and last incident and three months for the July 20 incident.
The magistrate also ordered that the sentences should run consecutively.
Meanwhile, Gavin Martin and Judah Benjamin pleaded guilty to breaking, entering and stealing from the Tiny Supermarket on Market Street on March 17.
They stole several boxes of Advil, cigarettes, raw wrapping paper, and bamboo wrapping paper, cartons of blunts, lighters, bottles of Johnny Walker whiskey, and bottles of Ensure, among other items that amounted to $3,362.
Initially a third person, Earskin Lawrence, was jointly charged for the crime but having pleaded not guilty yesterday, the prosecution withdrew the charge against him.
Benjamin was ordered to pay a fine of $3,000 by January 29, 2021.
Martin was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, with the time he spent on remand taken into consideration.
