Attorneys will make submissions on sentence in September when the sentencing phase for a woman who conspired with others to break into a security firm resumes in the No. 3A Supreme Court.
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Morivia Samantha Syana Gittens, a monitor at A&C Security Services Limited, of Mills Apartments, Haynesville, St James, was in court yesterday, where she had pleaded guilty, at a previous Session of the Continuous Sittings, to conspiring with others to commit aggravated burglary on September 1, 2015.
Principal State Counsel Joyann Catwell prosecuted the matter, while attorney Sian Lange represented the convicted woman.
Justice Anthony Blackman adjourned the matter until September 14 after the court was informed that Lange was in the Court of Appeal.
The court had heard that Gittens was on duty, around 12:03 a.m. on September 1, 2015, when she called her supervisor.
When he arrived, he checked and found that four firearms, their magazines, holsters, bulletproof vests and 45 rounds of ammunition were missing. A report was made to the Black Rock Police Station.
Subsequent investigations led to Gittens, who was arrested.
Police later found a notebook, containing a drawing of the bottom section of her workplace, at her home. She admitted bringing home the notepad but said her boyfriend did the drawing.
Gittens initially denied involvement in the burglary but later confessed in a dictated statement. In it, she said a man had asked her for a place to stay and she allowed him to stay at her apartment. He visited her at work on two occasions.
Gittens further told police that a few weeks prior to the incident, when she went home, she saw the man drawing something in the notebook. She said that drawing resembled the bottom floor layout of the A&C Security office.
She told police she questioned him about it and he replied that he was “planning this thing”. She said she told him the plan would not work. However, he then asked her if money or guns were kept in the office and she told him there was no money and any guns were under lock and key.
Marking
Gittens said that, at his request, she marked where they were kept on the drawing. After that he said nothing more about it for a while.
The woman said she was at work around 11:55 p.m. on September 1, when the doorbell rang. When she answered the door’s phone, a male voice said he had come to drop off a sick paper. She pressed the buzzer and two men wearing hoodies ran inside. One held on to her, while the other ran further into the office. The one holding her told her to sit by the bathroom.
She said she could hear a drawer opening and her attacker told the other person to grab the bulletproof vests.
The one holding her then ordered her to let them out. After she did, she called her supervisor and police.
Gittens further told police she participated in the burglary because “I was in debt and I owed Cave Shepherd, the credit union and for rent”. (HLE)