A 58-year-old man is now facing fraud charges following a burglary at the constituency office of Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw last week.
Tyrone St Elmo Holford, of no fixed place of abode, pleaded guilty to entering Bradshaw’s constituency office between December 18 and 19, and stealing two phones, a pair of glasses, a pair of shades, and one microphone recorder belonging to Simone Tull, and a RBC Royal Bank of Canada cheque belonging to Bradshaw.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes on Wednesday, Holford was also charged with endeavouring to obtain from Royal Bank $7 500 by virtue of a forged RBC cheque payable to Bradshaw, knowing it to be forged, and that with intent to defraud, he uttered a forged bill of exchange to RBC Royal Bank purporting to be a RBC cheque to S Bradshaw by order of Errol Clarke Associates, knowing the same to be forged.
He was not required to plead to the two indictable offences, which both allegedly took place on December 20.
Moments earlier, he admitted entering E.S.S.S. Hardware and Variety as a trespasser on December 10 and stealing two cash boxes valued at $80 and $3 016 belonging to Edgar Small.
Holford, who has 18 previous convictions, apologised for his actions, saying he had been hungry when he committed the burglary at the constituency office.
“I am sorry and I hope to pay people back that I hurt… I used to work for Santia Bradshaw also,” he said.
When advised by Chief Magistrate Weekes that he should have sought aid from the homeless shelter, Holford replied that he had been there once before but did not like that people had to be searched to enter.
“What is amazing in this country: Here is it that we are providing a shelter, and you all want to dictate what rules are applied when you do not have to pay,” said the magistrate before sentencing Holford to two nine-month prison sentences for the hardware store and constituency office burglaries, to run concurrently.
He returns to the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on May 3, 2024, regarding the indictable offences.
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