By Latrishka Thomas
A year behind bars is the penalty that a 24-year-old Fort Road man will be facing for breaking into a woman’s home and stealing a number of items.
At around 8am on December 30 2020, Carson Matthew Jnr walked up St George’s Street and went into the apartment of the complainant.
He obtained entry by using a tool which he forced through the western door and the door jamb and managed to open the lock.
When inside, he stole a Samsung Galaxy phone, wristwatch, and coins from a handbag with a total value of $1,621.
It wasn’t until around 5pm that day that the complainant noticed the door was unlocked and reported the matter to the police.
Yesterday, Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh slapped the thief with prison time for the offence.
But two charges of robbery against Matthew Jnr were withdrawn based on instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
He was accused of robbing a male resident of Gambles of $75 on Hilda Davis Drive, and attempting to break into a dwelling house on Bishopsgate Street. Both of those incidents reportedly occurred on Christmas Eve last year.
According to the DPP, Anthony Armstrong, there was not enough evidence against the defendant to proceed.
Particularly in one of the instances he said, “There is no evidence shown by this investigation to justify the charge.”
Armstrong explained that “all the virtual complainant has said is that during the night while she was in her bedroom and in her bed that she saw a hand coming through the door and that she shouted and then the hand then disappeared. She said further, that she then got up out of the bed, looked through her window and saw on the opposite side of the road, a young man”.
Meanwhile, the convict is awaiting a hearing in the High Court’s May assizes.
He is charged with robbing a man of $300 and a beer from a man while wielding a knife on January 3 this year.