The period after Hurricane Ivan was a time of extraordinary stress and some people reacted better than others. Desiree R. Ebanks did not react well at all, her attorney said in Summary Court this week.
Ebanks, 41, was sentenced to seven months imprisonment after pleading guilty to burglary and several traffic offences.
Magistrate Margaret Ramsay-Hale indicated that the defendant needed time in custody so that she could think about her situation and take back control of her life.
According to facts set out by Senior Crown Counsel Adam Roberts, the burglary occurred at a house that had been vacated after Ivan. The owner checked it periodically; in December he saw indications that someone had been living there.
On 15 December, police checked and found Ebanks sleeping on the floor upstairs. The owner of the house did not press charges at the time because he felt sorry for her and believed she was just staying there.
Later, however, he learned that items had been stolen from the house and he proceeded with his complaint.
On 18 December, officers on patrol saw Ebanks driving onto Hirst Road in Savannah from a side road and then stop at a vacant lot. The officers pulled alongside and noticed the expired registration coupon on the vehicle. They asked Ebanks if she had insurance.
She replied in a hostile, abusive manner to say that she did not have a certain kind of insurance and she was a certain kind of homeless.
One of the officers asked her to calm down and step out of the vehicle. Instead, she locked herself in and continued to be verbally abusive.
He again asked her to step out and said she was not to drive any further. She proceeded to reverse at a speed, driving across the road without checking to see if any traffic was coming. She sped away and officers gave chase, eventually cornering her. She remained in her vehicle and continued drinking.
At this stage of the narrative, the magistrate asked why the Crown was not proceeding with a charge of failing to provide a specimen for testing.
Defence Attorney James Austin-Smith explained that his client said she was never properly asked for a breath sample. Another Crown Counsel had taken the view that, given all the other charges, any sentence would cover this as well.
Ebanks did plead guilty to other charges arising from the incident: driving without insurance, driving a vehicle with expired registration, no certificate of roadworthiness, refusal to comply with the lawful direction of an officer.
The magistrate referred to some of the items found in Ebanks’ car after the incident, including ‘male and female jewellery’.
Mr. Austin-Smith pointed out that Ebanks’ home had been destroyed and a number of items in the car were her own property. Besides, they were not the subject of any charge.
He explained Ebanks’ situation at the time. Apart from the loss of her home, the traffic incident occurred two days away from the anniversary of her mother’s death. Further, she had just found out that her boyfriend, who had left the island after Ivan, was not coming back.
Ebanks was staying in the house she stole from because she had no where else to go, Mr. Austin-Smith said. He referred to the goods taken as not of high value.
Since December, the defendant has not been in any trouble, he pointed out. She found a part-time job and somewhere to stay, cleaning the yard in exchange. She had asked an MLA for help in getting a trailer to live in. ‘He is supposed to get back to her today.’
Drug problem
In summary, Mr. Austin-Smith said, Ebanks had taken steps to sort out her finances, get a home and deal with her drug addiction by seeing a counsellor privately.
The magistrate pointed out that the court did not have any evidence of that. Private counselling cost money, she noted.
She verbalised Ebanks’ attitude as ‘Because I was in distress I was entitled to be abusive and steal other people’s property.’
Mr. Austin-Smith said the defendant knew her behaviour was unacceptable and the best mitigation was her guilty pleas.
The magistrate said Ebanks had shown a settled indifference to the law, to the rights of other people, to her own obligations to the community.
Not only had she been rude to officers, she had insisted that she would continue breaking the law by driving. She needed to wake up and realise that every citizen’s right has a corresponding duty. There must be respect for the law, for other people and their property.
A probation officer had prepared a pre-sentence report that said Ebanks remained addicted to ganja and alcohol. ‘You don’t seem to realise this has everything to do with your life being out of control,’ the magistrate told her.
In January 2003, Ebanks received a sentence of six months, suspended for two years. The re-offending had occurred toward the very end of that period, so the magistrate activated only 30 days of that sentence.
Six months for burglary was made to run consecutive.
Ebanks had no money to pay fines for the traffic offences, the magistrate noted, so she imposed 30-day sentences for each, to run concurrently. There should have been a separate sentence for Ebanks’ abusive conduct, she commented, but no such charge had been laid.
Ebanks was also disqualified from driving for one year because of the insurance offence.
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