Convicted addict thanks court

Donald Calvin Hooker was sentenced earlier this month to two and a half years imprisonment for burglary and drug offences, but before he left the dock he stopped to thank Magistrate Valdis Foldats. 

A social inquiry report showed that Hooker, now 37, had been exposed to drugs at an early age. He started using ganja at 7, was a “full alcoholic” at 13 and hooked on drugs at 21. 

With more than 40 previous convictions, he had last come out of prison in 2009. He had traffic and drug offences in 2011, but no offences against others’ property until the end of 2011. He was then in custody until February 2012, when Magistrate Foldats gave him bail with significant restrictions. 

“The best way to protect the public is to rehabilitate the offender,” the magistrate said. 

For the rest of 2012, Hooker had to come to court at least once a month, give urine samples for random drug testing, obey a curfew, stay out of liquor-licensed premises, report regularly to a probation officer and wear an electronic monitor. 

After he was sentenced, Hooker said, “As rough as the road was, it was the best I had it in the many years I’ve suffered this addiction. The alternative court really does work. I know there is hope.” 

One thing he had never done before was admit his responsibility for his actions, Hooker told the court. “Now I’ve done that. This is a journey … I want to get it right. Thanks for all your help.” 

Crown Counsel Tanya Lobban provided the chronology of Hooker’s offences. In April 2011, he was the driver of a vehicle in which police found a crack pipe and vegetable matter resembling ganja. Hooker initially denied possession, but tested positive for consumption of both ganja and cocaine. 

In September 2011, he was involved in a traffic accident on Schoolhouse Road. When police arrived at the scene, Hooker accepted responsibility. 

Following a burglary in October 2011, Hooker pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods – a cell phone from the burgled home. 

In November 2011, a George Town preschool was entered by someone who cut a screen and pried open a window. The place was ransacked, with goods strewn about. Missing items included $8 in coins, cleaning products and toiletries. 

When questioned later about the burglary, Hooker told police he was hungry and looking for money to feed his drug addiction. 

The preschool was burgled a second time that month, around the same time that a business premises was broken into. Finger prints were recovered at the business place and they matched Hooker’s. Items were found at his residence that came from both places and he admitted the burglaries. 

Also towards the end of 2011, construction materials, including electrical equipment and tiles, were stolen from a container in South Sound. Hooker pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods.  

After he was bailed in February 2012, Hooker committed no offences the rest of the year. But in January, a Bodden Town residence was burgled. Ms Lobban said the resident came home and found that a patio sliding door had been opened and there were papers on the floor. Drawers were opened and rooms ransacked. Missing items included a quantity of electronics, jewellery and passports, all with a total value of US$8,703.99. 

Police recovered a fingerprint from inside the house and it matched Hooker’s. 

He had been wearing an electronic tag, but police found a sock with foil paper in it, which they believed was used to interfere with the device. 

Defence attorney John Furniss said Hooker was unable to assist police in regard to this last incident because of the state he had got into. He pleaded guilty because of the fingerprint. 

“You see his record and wonder sometimes how many more generations cocaine is going to be the scourge of,” Mr. Furniss remarked. 

For most of 2012, Hooker complied with the regime set for him by the court. He even put himself into the withdrawal management unit for treatment when he felt he was in danger of a relapse, the attorney reported. Everything went well until the end of 2012, when he became unemployed. He then went back to drugs: “It wasn’t a little bit here and there; it was a full-blown relapse.” 

Mr. Furniss said Hooker was embarrassed and annoyed with himself because he had gone off drugs for so long and was fighting his addiction.  

“He intends at the end of any sentence you give him to put himself into Caribbean Haven for help because it is not available at the prison,” he said. 

The magistrate said he had seen the positive change in Hooker over the many months he had come to court. Then, when he was brought back for the residential burglary, “I could see you were destroyed by your own behaviour.” 

Burglary of someone’s home is a serious crime, he pointed out. “You weren’t doing it for thrills or as a business, but as a result of this horrible addiction. That doesn’t excuse it and doesn’t affect the victim’s feelings,” the magistrate added. 

He summarised the spiral of Hooker’s offending, which had started at the lower end and ended with the residential burglary. It was telling that Hooker could not remember when it happened or what he took, an indication of the depth of his addiction. 

The magistrate urged him to get involved with the recently formed inmates committee and, if there were no help programmes, advocate for them. The sentence for the residential burglary would have been three years, but with credit for his guilty plea and previous efforts, the magistrate said two years was appropriate. 

For the business and first preschool burglaries he added six months consecutive. All other sentences were made to run concurrently.