Grande man jailed for robbing woman

A SANGRE Grande man, who pleaded guilty to a robbery charge, was yesterday sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour. O’Neil Solomon of Moolchan Street, Sangre Grande, pleaded guilty before Justice Devan Rampersad at the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court, where he appeared charged with robbing Phyllis Archer of several items of jewelry. In handing down the sentence, Rampersad expressed concern about the prevalence of women in urban areas being attacked and robbed by young men late at night.

Despite the mitigation plea made by defence attorney Mario Merritt, Rampersad said the court had no alternative but to impose robust sentencing policies, especially since the accused had already been convicted of a similar offence for which he had served nine months in prison. Rampersad said he had taken into consideration the fact that the accused had pleaded guilty and had not wasted the court’s time. He added, however, that some deterrant had to be put in place. He was arrested and charged. The State was represented by attorney Nadia James.