A 27-year-old labour­er who was con­vict­ed of armed rob­bery has been spared im­pris­on­ment. In­stead of the cus­to­di­al sen­tence, Jameel Dou­glas, of East­ern Main Road, Barataria, was put on a three-year bond to keep the peace by Jus­tice Maria Wil­son, who was pre­sid­ing in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Crim­i­nal Court.

Wil­son de­cid­ed on the bond in­stead of a prison term af­ter Dou­glas' at­tor­neys, Ravi Ra­j­coomar and Vince Charles, stat­ed that the time he spent on re­mand await­ing tri­al should be de­duct­ed from his sen­tence. Dou­glas was found guilty of armed rob­bery by a nine-mem­ber ju­ry af­ter a short tri­al in De­cem­ber.

Ac­cord­ing to the ev­i­dence, on No­vem­ber 9, 2006, Dou­glas, us­ing a firearm, robbed Rod­er­ick Al­saran, al­so of Barataria, of $1,000. Al­saran tes­ti­fied that he knew Dou­glas for six months pri­or to the rob­bery, as he would see him rid­ing his bi­cy­cle dai­ly around San Juan and Barataria.

Al­saran said on the day of the in­ci­dent, Dou­glas walked up be­hind him, pulled out his weapon from the pock­et of the sweater he was wear­ing, put it to his head and told him to "pass the thing." He said af­ter he sur­ren­dered his wal­let, Dou­glas ran away. Dou­glas was ar­rest­ed sev­er­al months lat­er at Sawmill Av­enue, San Juan, af­ter Al­saran spot­ted him and alert­ed po­lice. The case was pros­e­cut­ed by An­ju Bho­la.