Women fined for groceries in car trunk

THREE women were fined on Monday for having in a car, $1,800 worth of groceries for which they could not show proof of purchase.

Kimberly Percel, 35, Amina Boisselle, 23, and Jennifer Garcia, 30, of Valencia, were arrested last Thursday outside GN Supermarket in Debe. Groceries were scattered in the back seat of their car and there were more in bags in the trunk. They pleaded guilty.

Senior magistrate Cherril-Ann Antoine had adjourned hearing to Monday to allow the women to produce receipts. Attorney Ainsley Lucky, on their behalf, produced one receipt for a case of bottled water valued $22.

All three women testified, saying they had lost the rest of the receipts. Cross-examined by prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan, they all said it was common for grocery customers to discard receipts after their purchases, and normal for bags to burst, which explained why the items were in garbage bags.

They all testified that they decided go with Percel to visit her mother in Claxton Bay. They drove through Sangre Grande, into Rio Claro and then along the Naparima Mayaro Road.

On reaching Tableland, they stopped at a grocery. At 7.30 pm, they went to Debe and were driving around in a place they did not know, then decided to head for Claxton Bay.

Percel, Boisselle and Garcia also admitted that when they were inside the grocery, workers followed them around and accused them of being thieves.

PC Shiva Roopchan laid the charge.

Antoine said the women failed to convince the court they had purchased the items and said the police had made out a case against them.

A fine of $10,000 or two years in jail is the maximum sentence. The magistrate ordered Percel and Boisselle to pay $3,500 or serve nine months in jail. Garcia was fined $5,000 because she was convicted of larceny just last month.

The bottled water was ordered returned to the women.

Antoine ordered that the items which only adults could use, such as coffee, should be sent to the St Vincent de Paul Home. The rest are to be sent to Hope Centre at Pointe-a-Pierre Road, San Fernando.