12 months' jail for San Fernando wallet thief

A THIEF smeared himself with faeces, as well as the wallet he had stolen, to ward off the people who were chasing him.

Ramesh Gayapersad, 30, of Chester Street, Debe Village, was jailed for 12 months in the San Fernando magistrates' court on Monday. He stole a wallet containing $4,500 and US$110 on Sunday.

Gayapersad pleaded guilty but told senior magistrate Jo-Anne Connor that he had found the wallet. She entered a not-guilty plea, but he insisted he wanted to plead guilty. "Yes, I stole it," he said.

Prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan told Newsday that at about 6.30 pm, Jadoonanan Chankar got out of his car on the SS Erin Road, Debe. As he was walking away, bystanders told him he had dropped his wallet in the road.

They saw Gayapersad pick it up and begin to run away. They ran after him, Seedan said, but then something happened.

Gayapersad stopped running, pulled down his pants and began to defecate. He then smeared faeces on his hands and face and did the same to the stolen wallet.

Police responded and PC Joseph Charles of the San Fernando CID arrested him.

Connor read out Gayapersad's criminal record, which consisted of six counts of house-breaking and larceny, cocaine possession, sacrilege and shop-breaking. He was jailed and fined for those offences between 2013 and 2017.

Told that the money and wallet had been recovered, Connor ordered Gayapersad to serve 12 months' jail with hard labour.