On his first court appearance on a robbery charge Rico Antonio Leslie Greenidge admitted in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court No. 2 a month ago, that he robbed Antwan Wilson of two chains worth $450 on January 26.
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However, when the circumstances of the crime were being presented last month, Greenidge objected when it was stated that he had a cutlass when he committed the crime.
Magistrate Manila Renee therefore vacated Greenidge’s plea and entered a “not guilty” plea instead for the 30-year-old of Free Hill, Black Rock, St Michael.
That led to him being remanded after the court upheld prosecutor Sergeant Kenmore Phillips’ objections.
However, Greenidge interjected: “I snatch de man chain. It is me. I want to do time and get it over with.”
Even as he was being escorted to the nearby cells at Central Police Station, Greenidge shouted: “You could believe I getting remand fuh two rusty chains?”
His tirade continued on the court steps and all the way over to the cells, as he swore loudly at the police officer who accompanied him.
There was none of that shouting when he returned before Magistrate Renee yesterday.
Greenidge insisted this time that he was “just guilty” and did not contest the facts in any way.
He said he and Wilson “had a disagreement, yes I had a cutlass, and he get back his possessions”.
The jewellery was snatched from Wilson’s neck in Queen’s Park, St Michael.
The court sentenced Greenidge to one year in prison, minus the time already spent on remand.
That sentence will run concurrently with another given by a different court, where last June he was handed a three-month sentence suspended for one year, which kicked in when he confessed to the robbery.
Greenidge was adamant yesterday that he just wanted to be sentenced “so I could do my time and get on with my life”. He thanked the court for re-reading the charge and for sentencing him. (SD)
