[ad_1]
(CNS): Okia Rainel Porter, 23, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in February to a robbery at a West Bay grocery store late last year. The unarmed Jamaican entered the 4-Way 24-hour convenience store on the evening of November 19 with the help of a friend wearing an animal mask. He stole less than $480 in cash.
Once inside the store, Porter walked behind the cashier and opened the cash register for one of the conspirators. After a scuffle between the two, Porter took the cash register and the tablet connected to it. But the cashier locked the door, preventing the robber from escaping. Porter then smashed the door with a metal plate until the cashier opened the lock. However, as he smashed the door, his mask fell to the ground, revealing his face on CCTV.
Police recovered the mask and ran a DNA test on it, which confirmed it matched Porter. Porter was found in a car on Ford Street in Georgetown on the night of the robbery. He was arrested and subsequently charged.
The court heard it appeared to be a poorly planned, impulsive robbery that was out of character for Porter. Porter had no previous criminal record and has expressed remorse for the offending. However, he admitted to taking drugs and believed he was addicted to ecstasy. Porter, a father of a three-year-old boy, lives in Jamaica and has been in the Cayman Islands on a work permit since 2019.
The defendant was said to have expressed sympathy for the victim and took responsibility for his actions, and although he appeared to have problems with drugs and alcohol, the probation department deemed him a low risk of reoffending.
The court also heard the store manager said the cashier was traumatised and resigned shortly after the robbery. The manager also said he was stressed and nervous about the possibility of further robberies as the store had been robbed seven times since it opened.
Although Judge Cheryll Richards ordered restitution of more than $1,700 for stolen cash and items and damage to the store, she also found the crime was serious enough to warrant a prison sentence and therefore could not order restitution because Porter could not afford to pay.
The judge acknowledged that the crime was an impulsive crime, without a well-thought-out plan, and was a low-level robbery, in which no weapon was used. Porter will not be able to see his family during his imprisonment and will not be granted any permission to work in the Cayman Islands.
Taking into account all mitigating and aggravating factors, and Porter’s guilty plea, Judge Richards imposed a sentence of 18 months imprisonment, taking into account time served.
[ad_2]
Source link
