BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A 19-year-old’s freedom was taken from him and he will be unable to visit the home and sleep on the bed he had grown accustomed to for the next three years.
Travis Crawford appeared before His Lordship Justice Francis Belle last week at the commencement of the May 2010 Criminal Assizes and pleaded guilty to a charge of house breaking and larceny.
His sentencing hearing took place on Thursday (May 13) at the Sir Lee Llewellyn More Judicial and Legal Complex.
According to the facts of the case, Crawford broke into a Mattingley Heights residence on September 21, 2009 while the occupants were out. The woman of the house arrived home and discovered that a pair of Nike ‘slappers’ were sitting under a palm tree which she recalled were not there when she last left her home.
As she perused the area, she discovered that a number of other items were either out of place or damaged, including pried open louvers and canned good strewn across the floor. The woman was making her way up the stairs when she heard noises, which led her to suspect that the intruder(s) had not yet left the house.
She called for assistance from the police and waited in her vehicle for them to arrive. While there, however, she observed two individuals exiting her home from the master bedroom door, one of whom she identified as Crawford.
Crawford offered no words on his behalf before sentencing took place except to answer questions asked of him by the court.
His Lordship Belle noted that it was Crawford’s first time before the High Court and that he is relatively young - which earned him a reduced sentence. He however explained that Crawford was previously convicted on two occasions at the lower court for robbery and carrying abroad an offensive weapon.
Crawford was sentenced to take up residence at Her Majesty’s Prison for the next three years. His sentence, His Lordship explained, is to be served with hard labour.
In an unrelated case, Kevin Kelly of St. Pauls also pleaded guilty to house breaking and larceny.
He admitted that on October 12, 2009 he broke into a Newton Ground home and stole a laptop, DVDs and a DVD player. While the DVDs and laptop were found at his home, the DVD player wasn’t because, as Kelly explained, it fell from him hands and broke which led him to toss it into a ghaut.
Asked if he had any submissions to make to the court, Kelly expressed penitence for his actions and informed the court that he was once a student of the Special Education Unit.
His Lordship halted the sentencing proceedings and ordered that a social inquiry be compiled and handed to the court before Kelly’s sentencing date on June 3.
Desi Williams of Sandy Point, who was late last year sentenced to prison on rape and robbery charges, is again before the court. This time however, he appeared on a burglary charge. Williams pleaded guilty to the charge and is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-July. The offence was committed on October 20, 2008.
