A 31-year-old man who pleaded guilty to burglary has been sentenced in Montserrat High Court to three years on probation and ordered to pay a EC$1,000 fine.
Jose Samil Jiminez Santana, originally from the Dominican Republic but now living in Davy Hill, stole thousands of dollars worth of jewellery from a home in Old Towne earlier this year.
When arrested, the father-of-two pleaded guilty to the opportunistic crime and returned most of the items, expressing remorse for his actions.
Justice Brian Cottle ordered Jiminez Santana to pay the victim US$8,500 in compensation for items that have not yet been recovered.
Security footage
In his sentencing judgment delivered on 1 November, Cottle said the burglary took place at the home of Old Towne resident Elizabeth Breuer on Friday, 1 March.
She and her daughter Kristen left home for a meal just after 5pm and returned about an hour later.
Later than evening, Elizabeth was unable to find her jewellery box, so her daughter looked at footage from the home’s security cameras and saw that someone had entered the house while they were out.
They called the Royal Montserrat Police Service, gave officers the video and made a report. Kristen also posted the footage to social media, the judgment said.
At about 10.45am the next morning, Jiminez Santana and his sister attended the victims’ home and said he was not the person in the security camera video.
However, when Kristen showed the images to the defendant’s sister, she began to “remonstrate with him”, the acting high court judge said.
The police were summoned and they arrested Jiminez Santana, who took them to the location of two jewellery boxes and his home where he had kept most of the jewellery.
Officers carried out further investigation and recorded two statements from the defendant in which he admitted entering the Old Towne home and stealing the jewellery.
Opportunistic crime
Cottle, in his sentencing, said Jiminez Santana has been resident in Montserrat since 2017 and has a wife of three years, who has lived in Montserrat for 18 years, along with two young children.
He works as a labourer in the construction industry, earning about EC$650 each week, and his monthly expenses amount to about $1,280.
The acting judge said the offence did not demonstrate any level of planning and was opportunistic.
“The defendant chanced upon an unsecured dwelling which happened to be unoccupied at the time. There was no violence or threat of violence,” he said.
Cottle added that the intrusion into the house was of a limited duration, and while the defendant had attempted to conceal the stolen goods, most of the items were later recovered.
He added that the defendant is of good character in that he has no previous convictions, he has expressed genuine remorse for his actions, and he cooperated with the police.
The maximum sentence upon conviction on indictment for burglary in Montserrat is imprisonment for 14 years.
However, Cottle said: “In all the circumstances of this matter I have concluded that it is expedient to release the defendant on probation.”
