Schoolboy charged...again

A 17-year-old youth charged with robbery, the second charge in less than a year, was asked by a San Fernando magistrate yesterday why he is yet to collect his Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) result slip from the secondary school he attended, which was available since August.

The court heard that the teen’s father is dead and his mother’s work hours did not allow her to go to the school to get the results slip.

The teen appeared before Senior Magistrate Cherril Ann Antoine to answer a charge that on October 2, he together with another man, robbed Mina’s Mart in Papourie Road.

The youth pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Magistrate Antoine told the defendant that he has a previous charge that in April this year, he committed a robbery.

Attorney Charlene Kalloo, who represented the youth, told the magistrate the teen needs to be enrolled in the Military-led Academic Training Academy (MiLAT), for he is a boy in dire need of such guidance.

The MiLAT programme is geared towards providing a safe, structured and regulated environment for ‘at-risk’ young men who can interact with members of the Defence Force as well as non-military professionals.

Attorney Kalloo pleaded for bail, telling the magistrate that a relative, an aunt, who was in court yesterday, is willing to sign as surety.

Magistrate Antoine later granted the teen $20,000 bail and adjourned the case.

Attorney Kalloo said she has all the forms and will enrol the teen into the MiLAT programme.