Woman convicted for 23rd time

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque had a hard time sentencing a middle-aged woman on Tuesday, who has 22 previous convictions for larceny in several parishes.

"You are a roaming thief! I know it sounds very bad when I say thief but because of the charges that you are here for, simple larceny, the average person down the road don't say that. The average person says thief and that is what it sounds like on paper. That is the narrative that you have created for yourself, that you would go from parish to parish and commit these offences," the senior jurist commented in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday.

The defendant, Nadine Franklin, who pleaded guilty to larceny from the person and unlawful possession of property, has been sentenced in St Mary, Clarendon, Manchester and St Catherine for charges under the Larceny Act. Her last conviction was in 2019.

Her attorney, C.J. Mitchell, begged the judge not to impose a custodial sentence but "to rescue her from the jaws of prison".

It was shared that Franklin stole $25,000 from the complainant's pocket. Mitchell contends that his client, who has been in custody since January, has made restitution.

But Mitchell's submissions were not accepted by the judge, who opined that Franklin has benefitted from mercy several times in the past, even pointing to one occasion in 1997 when she was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at hard labour plus two years of supervision.

"Having 22 convictions ... it should have been sufficient to guide her steps. It can be said, what she has done with the mercy is to disgracefully throw it back in the face of the persons who gave it to her, and for that, she must be held accountable," judge Cole-Montaque indicated.

For larceny from the person, Franklin was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment at hard labour while for unlawful possession of property, she was sentenced to one month imprisonment at hard labour.

- T.T.