Man jailed for robbery: "Satan chook meh. I didn’t mean to do it"

"Satan chook meh. I didn’t mean to do it."

That was part of an explanation La Romaine resident Kareem Smart gave to a San Fernando magistrate today for robbing two women at gunpoint at their home in February. Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine sentenced him to seven years hard labour in jail.

Smart, 31, pleaded guilty charged with two counts of robbery with aggravation. The incident occurred on February 21 shortly after 9 pm when the women were in the porch of their home at Cypress Gardens, Union Hall in San Fernando. Prosecutor and attorney PC Ramdath Phillip said that Smart, armed with a gun, and two other men approached the women. The men robbed the women of cellphones together value $9,500, a laptop value $3,000, $1,000 and a Kia Shortage value $140,000. Smart and the men escaped in the stolen car. The prosecutor told the court that the victims reported the matter to San Fernando CID and police later recovered the car in the district.

Asking the magistrate for mercy and a non-custodial sentence, Smart said he knows what he did was wrong. Satan, he said, "chook" him . Saying he was "being real", Smart told the magistrate that when he reached the victims’ house he greeted them. The gun was in his hands.

"I told them good night. I never hurt nobody. I am sorry for my action."

Shaking his head in the negative he said: "My mother always say that friends does carry yuh and doh bring yuh back."