7 years jail for kidnapping

AZARD ALI

A MAN who kidnapped another man, stole his house keys and then stole from his home was jailed on Friday for seven years by a San Fernando magistrate.

Rory Henry, 27, a peanuts vendor of La Brea, pleaded guilty to unlawfully taking away Michael Williamson, a taxi driver of Christian Street, San Fernando.

He also pleaded guilty before senior magistrate Cherril-Ann Antoine to another charge that, together with other men, he broke and entered Williamson's house with intent to steal.

At La Romaine, a third charge read, he robbed the taxi driver of his cell phone and house keys.

Prosecutor Cleon Seedan told Antoine that at about 1 am last Sunday, Williamson was walking towards his gate when Henry and two other men confronted him. He ran and they chased him as far as Roodal Street. They ordered Williamson into a vehicle and took him to Rambert Village, La Romaine, where they robbed him of the phone and keys.

Williamson reported the theft to the police and Cpl Narine Bisnath led a party of police to Williamson's house. Seedan said Bisnath confronted Henry in the washroom area. Asked why he committed the act, Henry told the magistrate that he was indebted, "and I was very low on cash."

Antoine jailed Henry for seven years with hard labour for kidnapping Williamson, five years for stealing the phone and keys, and two years for breaking into the house. The sentences are to run concurrently, so Henry will serve seven years.