Sando drug addict gets 18 months for theft

- File photo
- File photo

A MAGISTRATE on Wednesday heard of a man who lost his job, wife, children and house because of a drug addiction.

Clifford Hosein, 58, of La Romaine, was before senior magistrate Jo-Ann Connor in the San Fernando Magistrates' Court, charged with stealing. He pleaded guilty that between June 8 and 10, he broke into Plug Tech Electric Care Ltd on Prince of Wales Street, San Fernando.

Hosein stole six screwdrivers, marine copper wires and a chainsaw valued $12,120.

Police prosecutor Cleyon Seedan, told Connor the victim secured his workshop on the afternoon of June 8 and when he reopened for business two days later, the items were missing.

PC Basdeo of the San Fernando CID investigated and on June 9, saw Hosein with a crocus bagin which he was cutting copper wire.

He arrested and charged Hosein.

Attorney Subhas Panday, who represented Hosein, pleaded for leniency, saying he was a homeless father. He attended John Donaldson Institute and worked with the now defunct Caroni (1975) Ltd. Hosein, he added, also worked in Barbados. But he took to drugs and became an addict.

"He lost his job, his family, his wife, his house; he became homeless and began to live on the streets. He became a street dweller," Panday said.

Seedan submitted that Hosein had a string of convictions for larceny and handed Connor a copy of his criminal record. He was recently jailed for four years for larceny.

Saying Hosein has a checkered history of drug convictions, Connor asked him about the outcome of cases apparently pending against him, but he said he could not remember.

She sentenced him to 18 months in jail.

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"Sando drug addict gets 18 months for theft"

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