More than a year after pleading guilty to stealing over $200,000 worth of equipment from Petrotrin, a Gasparillo man has been sentenced to one year in prison.Abraham Seeraj, 29, a welder/fabricator, pleaded guilty to breaking into the company's Pointe-a-Pierre compound in October 2012 with other people and stealing the items.
In a mitigation plea in the San Fernando Magistrates Court on Tuesday, attorney Ainsley Lucky noted that his client pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, but it took 14 months for him to be sentenced.He added that Tuesday was the third consecutive day that Seeraj was brought to court for sentencing, but the police could not find the file.About the incident, he said Seeraj "fell prey to the urgings of the confederates."
Seeraj stole $264,420 worth of industrial equipment, including brass plate, computers and tubing. Lucky said Seeraj is currently serving a four-year jail term for ammunition possession, marijuana and robbery.He asked Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington to incorporate the sentence into the sentence Seeraj is now serving.Saying he had taken into consideration the 14 months Seeraj had spent awaiting sentence, the magistrate sentenced Seeraj to one year instead of two years.