Van thief jailed for 5 years

SHARLENE RAMPERSAD

AN Arima man was sentenced to five years in jail with hard labour for stealing a Nissan BT50 pick-up, and the police who arrested him and recovered the vehicle were each awarded $500 by a San Fernando magistrate yesterday.

Felix Lal, 39, pleaded guilty to the charge before Senior Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the San Fernando First Court. The magistrate was told that Lal stole the $70,000 van between 9pm on February 5 and 5.45am on February 6 from the owner’s Whiteland, Williamsville home. The van was recovered by Maloney police on April 20 at Lal’s Rice Mill Road, Arima home. The gold and black van had been repainted black.

In court yesterday, prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan said when PC Kerr later met Lal at the Gasparillo Police Station, where he questioned him about the vehicle, Lal told him, “Officer, Dave bring that by me to fix.”

Lal told Kerr he had been repairing the clutch and fuel pump.

The owner of the van identified it by the chassis number and the pick-up was returned to him.

Antoine read out Lal’s court records which showed he had been charged in the past for similar offences on several different occasions in other courts. Lal said those matters, which date back to 1996, were all dismissed.

He admitted to having pending matters in the Port of Spain Magistrates Court and San Fernando Magistrates Court for larceny of motor vehicles, one in Tunapuna for cocaine trafficking and one in Sangre Grande for marijuana trafficking.

Antoine told him several warrants had been issued for his arrest and he said the warrants were for missed court dates. Lal said he did not waste the court’s time and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He said he is a mechanic and has a three-year-old daughter who has been staying with neighbours since his arrest.

After passing sentence on Lal, Antoine ordered that PCs Castillo and Kerr be given commendations in the sum of $500 each for their diligence, saying too many people lose their vehicles and never get them back.