Adding four new convictions to his previous tally of 107, Ricardo Cortez Browne pleaded with the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court for help kicking his cocaine habit. And Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes has given him another chance.
Appearing in the No. 1 Court, the 63-year-old unemployed man of Bank Hall Cross Road, St Michael confessed to cocaine possession and that he had apparatus for misuse of cocaine on October 15.
He also admitted to stealing $100 from Donna Clarke on September 23, $50 from Craig Myles on September 3, and $100 from Ira Walcott Smith on August 29.
The court heard that after a warrant was executed at the residence he was staying at, the apparatus and 0.42 grammes of cocaine were found.
Regarding the theft from Clarke, the accused went to the complainant’s home and said he wanted to make a $150 deposit for a catering job and asked for change from $100. The complainant gave him two $50 notes and went inside to get her receipt book, but when she returned, Browne had left with her money.
In the September 3 theft case, Browne asked the complainant, a vendor in Cheapside Market, for change for $50 and after receiving the cash, informed Myles that he had forgotten his money in the car. He never returned.
On September 23, he went to a daycare centre and told the owner that he wanted to enrol his child for four weeks and would pay a deposit and needed change from $100. The complainant gave him two $50 bills and he said he was going to the car to have his wife fill out the form. He was then seen walking towards the main road. However, one of the workers at the centre recognised him and the police were contacted.
Saying he used the stolen funds to support his cocaine habit, Browne asked for a suspended sentence to give him time to get into rehab.
“I have been in this struggle for 30 years and every time I come to court, I have been sent up…. It is not easy,” he said.
Reading some of Browne’s antecedents, the first of which was in 1989 and the most recent in 2023, Weekes highlighted that along with incarceration, several magistrates, including him, had placed Browne on bond or suspended sentences throughout the years as opportunities for him to get help.
“There are times when the court must appreciate that incarceration does not always work. I am going to give you an early Christmas gift and if you should fail to heed the call, I am sure the other call up there in St Philip you will heed.” the chief magistrate said.
He then imposed a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months for the cocaine offence, as well as on each of the thefts, and reprimanded and discharged Browne for the apparatus charge.
“You have a choice. You can … get on the bus and get down to the closest polyclinic and have a chat with them. It is up to you, but you will fall right back in my hands if you do not do it…. Find a friend who can drive you to Verdun House,” Weekes told Browne.
“You cannot say the judicial system is not trying with you again to curb your problem. You cannot, like the other members of the public, get up there and criticise the administration of justice and say that all we are doing is incarcerating these people. You are 63 years old, Sir and I have taken into consideration that you have done a lot of time in prison. You have to seize the moment now and get help at any of those places. The system will not be accommodating to you after this episode,” the chief magistrate warned.
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