by Linda Straker
A young man from St Andrew is serving a six-month jail term at Her Majesty’s Prison at Richmond Hill, for robbing former Prime Minister Tillman Thomas of more than EC$600 during the Christmas season.
Emron Mitchell who pleaded guilty to the offence of robbery, began serving his sentence on Monday after appearing before magistrate Neville John. Though the unemployed man promised to repay the money, he was unable to show the Court how soon and how he intended on repaying the funds which he stole after hitching a ride with Thomas.
Thomas said that Mitchell was one of four persons he gave a lift to the eastern parish on 19 December 2014. “They were standing at the Tempe Junction hitching a ride and because I was going to Grenville I decide to give them the lift. When I got home, I did see the pouch was open and out of the bag, but I was thinking that I left it out of the bag; I did not realise the money was gone until the police called me,” said the former National Security Minister.
“A policeman called and asked if I had given a group of young men a ride up, and when I told them yes he asked if I was missing anything, and searching the pouch I realised the money was missing; I just could not believe that’s what the guys did,” he continued.
Thomas, who did not have to give a witness statement, said that the Police became aware of the robbery because one of the young men in the vehicle was the son of a Policeman and he immediately told his father when he got home that Mitchell removed something from the pouch.
“So the Police did the investigations based on that complaint, and the evidence provided that he be charged for stealing EC$650 from me. In the court, Mitchell pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail,” said Thomas.
Information from the Police reveals that Mitchell is a known thief and was recently out of prison after serving an 18-month sentence for a similar offence.
