Derek Achong
Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A mother of four, including a newborn baby, has been sentenced to almost eight years in prison after being convicted of carjacking.
Kalisa "Cookie" Benito was convicted by a nine-member jury in October last year, but was only sentenced by High Court Judge Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds this week.
Benito was on trial for an incident involving a couple in March 2024.
The couple advertised a car for sale on social media and went to meet a prospective buyer at Price Plaza.
They met two people, who they believed to be women, who were dressed in Muslim wear.
They claimed one person's face was entirely covered, while the other, who they later identified as Benito, only had a partial face covering.
While allowing the two individuals to test drive the car, the person with their face fully hidden removed their face covering and revealed himself to be a man.
The man drew a gun and threatened the couple.
The couple, who were seated in the front passenger seat and back seat, managed to open their doors and roll out of the moving vehicle onto the roadway.
The car then sped off.
The couple made a report to the police, and the car was eventually intercepted in Cunupia.
Police allegedly had a shoot-out with the occupants of the car.
The car eventually stopped, and two men got out and ran away. Benito was found in the backseat and was arrested.
She denied any wrongdoing as she claimed that she thought the car was a taxi and she boarded it. However, the couple pointed her out in an identification parade.
She was charged with robbery with aggravation, assault with intent to rob, possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of shooting with intent.
The jury before Justice Ramsumair-Hinds found Benito not guilty of the shooting offences. They could not come up with unanimous findings of guilt for the other offences, and Justice Ramsumair-Hinds accepted majority verdicts.
Benito was pregnant when she was convicted, and she gave birth in prison while awaiting sentencing.
Her father, who takes care of her three other children, was given custody of the baby.
In determining the appropriate starting sentences, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds decided on seven years for robbery, three years for assault and 12 years for the firearm offences.
Justice Ramsumair-Hinds reduced the sentences by between one and four years as she noted that Benito was 30-years-old at the time of the incident and had a clean criminal record.
She also pointed out that Benito, who was employed as a maintenance worker at a school and coaches its netball team, showed remorse.
After deducting the time Benito spent in prison after conviction and while awaiting sentencing, Benito was left with a sentence of four years and eight months for robbery, one year and eight months for assault, and seven years and eight months for firearm and ammunition possession.
Justice Ramsumair-Hinds ordered that the sentences run concurrently, meaning that she would have to serve the longest sentence before being released.
She said she had to sentence Benito to a prison term despite her unique personal circumstances with her baby and her other children, ages 15, 13, and seven.
"My duty is to punish an offender for some serious crimes. Let us not forget that gender is not a mitigating factor," Justice Ramsumair-Hinds said.
"And while being the primary caregiver or breadwinner for a child certainly mitigates, Judges have the unfortunate task of calculating the appropriate custodial penalty for mothers and fathers alike who have been convicted of serious crimes using principles of fairness, parity, and proportionality," she added.
However, she noted that Benito's children were being well taken care of by her relatives and their respective fathers.
"Although the absence of their mother for any period of incarceration will be a challenge, the men in the lives of these four children are in a position, and I trust their abilities to raise them," she said.
