For the first time, I read of this type of nonsense: a magistrate seizing the loot of a robbery and passing it to a charity instead of returning it to the victim.
The court heard that Robey, a messenger employed with Foster Inniss Ltd on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, was given $6,000 to make a deposit on behalf of her boss, George Butcher.
A report was made to the police that she had been robbed of the money by two men on Chacon Street, Port-of-Spain.
While PC Narine was taking her statement, he noticed Robey fidgeting with her skirt and acting in a nervous manner.
She was subsequently searched by a female officer, who found $6,000 in her skirt pocket.
She stood before Magistrate Adrian Darmanie in the Eleventh Court and pleaded guilty.
Darmanie seized the $6,000 on behalf of the State and said it was to be paid to the St Judes' Home for Girls.
What then is the victim of the robbery to do? Count it as a loss even though it had been recovered? Will this be the norm of every robbery in future?
