Man admits to six residential burglaries

Mekko Theodore Gooden, 20, was sentenced to a total of three years on Monday after pleading guilty previously to six burglaries, one attempted burglary and one charge of handling stolen goods. 

Chief Magistrate Nova Hall noted she was giving Gooden credit for his pleas and cooperation after Crown counsel Candia James said he was charged on his own admissions. 

Defense attorney Prathna Bodden pointed out that although the burglaries were residential, they all occurred during the day when no one was home, so no one was endangered. 

Ms. James explained that police were investigating several burglaries, the earliest of which occurred on Jan. 24, 2013. They arrested a man whose phone showed suspicious text messages to Gooden. 

When Gooden was arrested in April 2013, he admitted a number of burglaries and told police that the first man had driven him to a number of places where he committed the burglary. He took officers to various locations and pointed out the premises he had entered. 

Sentencing did not take place until this year because Gooden had been accepted into the Drug Rehabilitation Court program.  

The January 2013 burglary on Fourth Avenue in West Bay involved the theft of a laptop, video play-station, watches and jewelry plus $40 in coins. Total value was $4,000. 

On Feb. 1, 2013, Gooden burgled a premises on Victory Avenue in Prospect and stole a laptop, two iPods and three Android tablets along with a phone and watch. Total value was US$4,948. 

On Feb. 12, 2013, a burglary on Fairview Road in George Town involved the theft of jewelry valued at $2,500. Around the same time, a burglary on Bankers Road in West Bay led to the loss of jewelry and electronics with a total value of $5,000. 

A burglary on Parkview Crescent in West Bay on March 11, 2013, involved a large amount of jewelry and vintage coins. Total value of the stolen goods was $12,925. 

The final burglary summarized by Ms. James occurred on Mulberry Drive in George Town. Jewelry and electronics stolen from that residence totaled $16,000 in value. 

Gooden also admitted an attempted burglary on Cockspur Lane in West Bay. In this case, the resident was home. He heard a knocking on his window but did not answer. Then he saw the light to his back door come on; his dog began barking and he heard voices talking to the dog. He checked and saw Gooden and another man at the door. They looked frightened and ran. He knew them and called police. 

The handling stolen goods charge came about after a burglary in January 2013 at Jennifer Drive in Snug Harbour. Residents reported the loss of a watch, iPod and jewelry. When Gooden was arrested, he was wearing the watch. He pleaded guilty to handling, acknowledging that he had bought it from a questionable character. 

Ms. James pointed to the sentencing guidelines set out in 2002 – three to four years for a second or subsequent residential burglary. Aggravating circumstances, she suggested, included the high total value of goods stolen (estimated to be more than $44,000) and the fact that this was a series of offending. 

Ms. Bodden emphasized the fact that Gooden had been arrested for one burglary and chose to admit the others, telling police how each occurred. He was 18 when the burglaries started and was influenced by an older man because he was desperate for money. “He didn’t reap the benefit of any of these burglaries,” she told the court. 

Gooden had something of a difficult childhood involving neglect, she said. The current concern was his legal status – he had formerly depended on his mother’s residence, and his legal residence expired when he was 18. He did have previous offenses, but they were not for dishonesty, the attorney noted. He had been given a community service order, which he did complete, she added. 

In passing sentence, the magistrate said she was taking a totality approach. For each of the six burglaries, she imposed a term of two years, all concurrent. The attempted burglary added one year. Sentences for handling stolen goods and consuming ganja run concurrently. For breach of a court order there was no separate penalty. For breach of a suspended sentence she activated the nine-month term that had been handed down for possession of ganja with intent to supply; she ordered that it be concurrent with the attempted burglary sentence.