Page 82 - Magistrates Conference 2019

SITUATION 2:

45 THE STATE v ROBIN WHITE

For Robbery with Aggravation

On the 26 August, 2015, at around 7:00 p.m., an elderly couple, Margaret and Roger Simpson, were in the front porch of their home in Diamond Village, relaxing and conversing
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when three masked men, armed with cutlasses, entered their house and announced a robbery. The men ransacked the house and escaped with a quantity of jewellery, cash and
very valuable electronics. The Simpsons, who were pensioners put up no resistance but were beaten severely by one of he man with the flat side of a cutlass. Roger Simpson
contacted the Diamond Village Police Station and reported the robbery. The police officers conducted investigations but unfortunately had no leads in the case.

One year later, Robin White, joined a Church in an attempt to turn his life around. After attending regularly for about three years he one day confessed to the Minister that he had
carried out a robbery when he was 18 years old. The Minister advised him that if he were truly repentant and was to be forgiven he would have to confess the crime to the police.

The next day, White went to the Diamond Village Police Station and turned himself in. He gave the Police a full written statement about the incident. He detailed his involvement in
the offence but refused to identify the two other men involved in the home invasion. He was subsequently charged for the offence of robbery with aggravation.

At the hearing at the High Court, White pleaded guilty to the offence at the first reasonable opportunity. Both the religious Minister and White’s employer were character witnesses.
They told the Court of his exemplary behaviour and honesty. Additionally the Minister told the Court that White served as a counsellor to the young men of the Church who might
be inclined to go down the wrong path. The Court also learned that White had recently married and his wife was expecting their first child in six months time.

The Simpsons were in the court at the time. They were invited to give a victim impact statement. They told the Judge that while they would accept whatever sentence the Court
imposed they no longer felt safe sitting out in their porch at night, a pastime which they had enjoyed, and that they subsequently installed burglar proofing around their porch and
had security cameras set up around their premises. They also indicated that after the incident, their sense of safety and well-being was lost and that even with the new security
features they had trouble sleeping at night.

In the jurisdiction where the offence occurred, the maximum penalty for the offence of robbery with aggravation on indictment is 15 years.