Stay away from the criminal justice system and stay employed.
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This was the advice Magistrate Alison Burke gave to 17-year-old Jon-Vitor Ferreira Samuel in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Samuel, of Simmons Land, Rendezvous, Christ Church, had just pleaded guilty to stealing a $14.99 roti from Massy Supermarket on September 3.
The teenager said he was hungry because he had not had any breakfast. He admitted he was employed with a construction company, earning about $790 every two weeks.
When the court was informed that Samuel’s family had told police there was food in the house, he admitted there was, “but not what I wanted to eat”.
He also confessed that he smoked marijuana.
“You know it’s wrong to take things that aren’t yours and you know it’s wrong to take things and not pay for them,” Magistrate Burke told him.
“This criminal justice system, stay away from this criminal justice system. Leave here with the mindset that I will do what is best for me,” the magistrate said, as she urged Samuel to adhere to his father’s rules.
“Don’t sit on the block and smoke and waste your life away,” she added, as she told him he was going to get a chance to keep his record clean.
She then reprimanded and discharged him for the offence.
Prosecutor Station Sergeant St Clair Phillips had told the court that Samuel went into the Worthing branch of the supermarket. The security officer saw when he took up a bottle of cran water and a cup of oats. He did not see when the teenager took up a roti.
Samuel went to the cashier, paid for the items and left. It was as he was pulling his phone from his pocket that a passer-by told him: “Son, your roti drop.”
The security officer challenged him and asked him if he had a receipt for the roti, which Samuel admitted he did not.