Man jailed for robbing supermarket twice

A PRINCES Town magistrate yesterday sentenced a man to two years and six months imprisonment with hard labour for two separate charges of shop-breaking and larceny committed at the same business establishment on separate dates.

A 17-year-old youth, who was jointly charged with Ferose Ali, 20, of Railway Road, Princes Town, on the charge in which Ali was jailed for two years, was remanded to the Youth Training Centre (YTC) pending a Probation Officer’s report. Two other youths, both aged 17, who were jointly charged with Ali in the case where Ali was jailed for six months, were also remanded to the YTC.

Ali and his accomplices appeared before Magistrate Betsy-Ann Lambert-Peterson in the First Court to answer the charges. Court prosecutor Cpl Zamsheed Mohammed, in outlining the facts of the case in which Ali was jailed for two years, told the court that one day in November, Ali and his teenaged accomplice went to Seecharan’s Supermarket in Iere Village, Princes Town.

The proprietor heard noises and on investigating, noticed Ali and his cohort attempting to remove louvres from a window on the southern side of the building. When the businessman called out to the burglars, one of them  pointed  an object at him (the businessman) who drew his licensed firearm and fired five times. Ali’s teenage accomplice was struck in the left side of his stomach and was arrested while seeking medical attention at the Princes Town District Health Centre. PC Fortune laid the charge against Ali and the injured teen, who was ordered to reappear in court tomorrow.

In relating the facts of the second case, Cpl Mohammed said that sometime between August 13 and 14, Ali and two other men broke into Seecharan’s Supermarket and stole $29,000 in cash, liquor, phone cards and other items. PC Noel of the Princes Town CID subsequently charged Ali and his two accomplices. The two accomplices pleaded guilty yesterday and were remanded to the YTC, to reappear again on Thursday.