The unemployed young man, shown in a viral video being escorted from Woolworth, admitted he stole from the Bridgetown store to get his child’s mother a gift.
Kadeem Antonio Sealy’s admission caused Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes to note that some young men felt pressured to support their girlfriends, and that this supported a regional prime minister’s premise that young men turned to crime to support “pretty young women”.
“This is your reality where some of them feel they are under pressure to support their young women,” he said. “So all the criticism that regional leader got was unwarranted and this reflects the truth.
“If you can’t be bold and honest to tell her that things are tight, ‘I can’t give you a gift’, you need to move on. You are not in a position to afford her a gift. You just can’t get up and walk in a store and take up something,” the Chief Magistrate told him.
Sealy, 21, whose charge sheet listed him as having no fixed place of abode, pleaded guilty to stealing an $11 bottle of perfume from Woolworth on December 20. (HLE)
