An 18-year-old manual laborer has been ordered to remain in custody at Dodds Prison until a September 9 court hearing, after entering guilty pleas to a series of robbery and theft charges before the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court in Barbados.
Tashon Ricardo Omari King, a resident of Thorne’s Gap, Land’s End, St. Michael, admitted to two separate counts of theft committed between July 29 and 30. The first theft targeted Delisha Smith, whose stolen property included a $400 bag, a $200 laptop charger, a $3,400 mobile phone, a $60 phone charger, a $800 pair of earphones, a $15 pencil case, and three $40 notebooks. The second theft was against Island Developments Limited, from which King stole a $3,000 laptop, 10 keys worth $100 total, and two gate openers valued at $200 combined. The cumulative worth of all stolen goods from both incidents amounts to BDS$8,610.
King additionally confessed to a robbery committed on June 30, where he took property totaling $424 from Rudolph Haynes: an $84 bag, a $90 mobile phone, and $250 in cash.
The teen was not required to enter a plea for the more serious indictable offense of robbing Nadeen Haynes on April 30. That robbery saw King allegedly steal a $400 handbag, US$8,000 (equivalent to BDS$16,000), BDS$200 in local currency, three Coach purses valued at $1,390, a $300 pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, and five visa debit cards worth $250 total.
Following the guilty pleas, police Sergeant Reginald Blackman filed a formal objection to King being granted bail. Blackman cited multiple compelling grounds for the objection: a high risk that King would reoffend if released, the need to protect the general public from further potential crime, the use of violence in the alleged robbery offenses, and the strong body of evidence prosecutors hold in the case.
Acting Chief Magistrate Douglas Frederick accepted the objection and ruled that King would be remanded to Dodds Prison to await his next scheduled court appearance on September 9. At that upcoming hearing, the prosecution will lay out the full formal facts of the charges to which King has already pled guilty.