Guyanese man gets $2,000 fine for condom theft

A 50-year-old Guyanese man who stole a quantity of condoms and other items from a popular cosmetics branch in Chaguanas was fined $2,000 and given four months to pay by a Chaguanas magistrate on October 7.

Magistrate Duane Murray handed down the sentence after the man, a father of two primary school-aged children, pleaded guilty to larceny. The exhibits presented in a silver/grey bag were tendered into evidence.

During the hearing, Murray questioned the man’s motives, asking why he travelled from Santa Cruz to Chaguanas “to come thief condoms and hairspray.” The man replied that he was behind on purchasing school supplies for his children.

Murray chastised him for what he described as a growing pattern of petty theft, saying, “So the solution is to thief and embarrass yourself and your family and make papers for thiefing condoms? This is what you want your children to see, for their friends to tell them their father is a condom thief? This is absolutely ridiculous.”

Murray said it has now become a “too common pattern of behaviour” where “people believe they can walk into a store and walk back out like it is nobody’s business.”

The accused, who has lived in Trinidad and Tobago for 22 years, told the court he resorted to theft out of desperation. Murray warned that larceny carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, adding, “You ready to make five years for 19 condoms? Then don’t thief.”

“I consider the offences egregious. I understand you might be going through personal struggles…It happens to people…, but this is not the solution. This is just causing you undue embarrassment.

“It might have been a moment of desperation, but it can cause you significant problems.”

Acknowledging the man’s cooperation by pleading guilty and not wasting the court’s time, and the recovery of the stolen items, Murray exercised his discretion to impose a fine instead of a custodial sentence. The man has four months to pay or face four months of hard labour in default.