This afternoon, Robert Young, Jr., 25, was found guilty of burglary after his trial ended before Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith.
Young was convicted after several witnesses from the police, scenes of crime and forensics departments testified on the matter.
Young was accused of entering the house of Douglas Hyde in the American New Site area of Hattieville, and stealing an assortment of jewelry, electronics belonging to Hyde and the Government of Belize, cash, legal work, and documents which together amounted to $7,020 in value.
Hyde’s house was burglarized on September 19, 2012; the burglar bar on one of the windows at the back of the house was pried open and three of the glass louvers had been removed, allowing the burglar access into the house.
When WPC Lydia Kerr and Scenes of Crime technician Robert Henry went to the house to investigate and process the scene, they found the house in a state of disarray. Henry was able to lift prints from the scene, and in particular, from a perfume box that had been thrown on a bed in one of the rooms.
The prints were sent to Belmopan, where they were entered into the AFIS system, and, after being processed, it was found that they matched those of Young.
Young took the stand and gave a sworn statement that he was in Belize City and Los Lagos on the day in question, so it couldn’t have been he who went into the house.
He called two witnesses to testify on his behalf, both of whom had been inside the courtroom when he gave his testimony.
The first witness started to stammer as he told the court that on September 9, 2012, he spent several hours with Young in Los Lagos, some time with him in Belize City, and about 2 ½ to 3 hours with him in Freetown, Sibun.
That witness was almost charged with perjury after telling the court that he was with Young for most of the day in question. The Chief Magistrate called him a liar and scolded him for getting up in court and lying. She told him that Young was not being charged for anything that had occurred on September 9, 2012, and that it was because he was telling an untruth that he was not able to give an accurate date.
When he was cross-examined by Sgt. Pablo Pinkney, the witness told the court that he made a mistake with the dates.
The next witness to take the stand was Young’s uncle, who told the court that he didn’t know why he was called as a witness when he was not even in the country when the alleged burglary occurred, and that he only just returned to Belize seven days ago.
He was also shocked to learn that the house that had been burglarized was that of one of his close friends.
After he stepped down, the Chief Magistrate told Young that he should have pleaded guilty from the start of the trial, but instead, chose to go on with a fiasco. She then found him guilty of the charge and before sentencing him, she allowed Young’s uncle to speak on his behalf.
He told the court that since returning, he learned that Young was in prison, along with the two persons who had been charged with the murder of his brother, Robert Young, Sr., Young’s father. He then asked the court if they could allow Young to pay compensation, in order for him not to be in prison with the two men.
But the Chief Magistrate then explained to him that although she could order compensation to be made, she was still bound to give Young a custodial sentence because since the trial started in May last year, Young had not been attending court and had to be picked up on a bench warrant.
She then ordered that compensation be paid to Hyde in the sum of $7,000 in monthly installments of $100. Young was sentenced to two years in prison, and if the $7,000 isn’t paid or one of the installments is missed, he would have to spend another two years in prison.
Young’s father is Robert Young, Sr., who was shot and killed on October 25, 2012, in a dockyard on North Front Street.