19-yr-old jailed for 3 years for robbery

He pleaded guilty when he appeared yesterday in the San Fernando Magistrates Court before Senior Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine. Prosecutor PC Cleydon Sedan told the court the victim was walking along Gordon Street in San Fernando when Abdool, of Ste Madeleine, confronted him with a knife and shouted “Hand over everything!” Two other people walked towards Abdool and spoke with him after which he snatched the knapsack and ran. In the bag was an electronic notepad, a cellular phone, two chargers, the man’s identification card, a deodorant, a soft drink, a popcorn snack, an Axe body spray and $40. The knapsack was valued $500.

Seedan told Antoine after the man reported the incident at the nearby San Fernando Police Station, he sought medical attention at the San Fernando General Hospital. Police arrested Abdool at Harris Street shortly after. He accompanied the police to Gordon Street and pointed to where he hid the knapsack with the stolen items. Most of the items were recovered.

Attorney Chantal Paul told the magistrate Abdool grew up in, what she described as a, “challenging” environment. He dropped out of secondary school in Form 1 and began to work with his father as a construction worker from the age of 11. Abdool’s mother, the attorney said, has a matter pending in the magistrates court.

Paul asked the magistrate to order a Probation Officer’s report having regard to Abdool’s predicament at such an impressionable age.

She said Abdool was under the influence of alcohol. Abdool has a pending case in court for loitering.

He was charged last year with possession of marijuana and was placed on a bond by a magistrate to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years.