A 19-year-old man was a hair’s breadth from getting bail yesterday, until the court realized that he was already out on bail.
He was subsequently remanded until October 13.
Shaquille Duante Va-Dahl Stoute, of Broomefield, St Lucy was in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant on a theft charge.
Stoute pleaded not guilty to stealing $21 belonging to Andrea Walker on September 13 and was granted $500 bail with one surety.
However, the court soon learnt that Stoute was before the court already this year and had been sentenced to six months in prison by former acting Magistrate Alliston Seale.
This sentence was imposed after he pleaded guilty to breaking into Diva Hype Bar last September and stealing brandy, vodka, nuts, mints and cash, totalling $557.14.
It was not only the theft which concerned the acting magistrate at the time, but the fact that Stoute had already been granted bail and was given community service.
“The court has done all it can for you,” Seale had said.
Stoute served that time but remained on remand after the sentence, in relation to another matter. He was eventually given bail by Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant in late June.
Today, the court heard submissions from attorney-at-law Kim Sealy who said Stoute has problems with alcohol and marijuana use but was now working with his father as a labourer and was making a contribution to the home where he resides with his mother.
“Even though he has made some bad decisions and has had to pay for them, he has been making an effort to get back on the straight and narrow,” Sealy said of her client.
The attorney urged the court to give favourable consideration to bail since the prosecution had not objected and Stoute had been frank when asked about his previous matters.
She said while she was trivializing the charge, “$21 was not much in the grand scheme of things”.