Twin brothers jailed for theft

Justin Shamar Greene and Martin Omar Greene had pleaded guilty on June 16 this year, before Justice Donna Babb-Agard SC in the No. 4A Supreme Court, where they returned for sentencing. The stolen property included a land surveying machine, a laser kit, refrigerator, microwave, 15 bags of cement and 19 pieces of wood.

The theft occurred between June 25 and July 9, 2023 Justin Greene, who had already spent 699 days on remand – was sentenced to 761 days (two years, eight days) in jail and must undergo rehabilitation programmes and counselling for drug use.

Martin Greene, who was remanded for the past 761 days, has another year and 334 days behind bars.

“You are still both young enough to change the direction of your lives, at 23, but it will be up to you whether you do so,” the judge told them.

State Counsel Tito Holder said project manager Dwayne Gittens left items in the container at the new fire station building in The Pine, St Michael, but when he returned he noticed that several appliances, building material and tools were missing. Some of the items were found stored behind pieces of wood and galvanised sheeting. The twins were 21 years old at the time and had no fixed address.

Admitted

When Justin was interviewed by police, he admitted taking some of the wood and recounted how he had crawled under a gate opposite Wilkie Cumberbatch Primary School with it, before later selling some to a shopkeeper.

In Martin’s case, he admitted that he and another man took the microwave and other items.

There were several things revealed in the Barbados Probation Service’s pre-sentencing report which showed that the brothers had a hard upbringing. Their mother had issues with alcohol and often left them and their five other siblings to fend for themselves. They had lacked guidance,

stability and spent much of their lives as wards of the State. Even where relatives or neighbours sought to help, they were unable to help with all seven children.

Justin had been provoked at secondary school and as a result had issues with anger management, and both brothers experimented with drugs and alcohol as teenagers. As they grew older, one was affiliated with a gang and the other, with a man known to the court. While one sibling had four previous convictions, the other had five and both were deemed as being at a moderately high to high risk of reoffending.

However, when they were out of steady employment, both did jobs for people within the community and some neighbours and relatives felt they were loving and helpful.

Justice Babb-Agard referred to the victim impact statement, noting that JADA was forced to replace a piece of land surveying equipment worth more than $35 000.

Sentence

Before determining sentence, the judge considered the time the brothers spent on remand, their remorse, early guilty pleas, prior convictions, the gravity of the offence and the unfavourable pre-sentencing reports.

Any sentence should “send a message to society that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated”, she said, adding that the theft seemed “planned and deliberate”.

“You both seem to have a penchant for stealing items for profit,” she said, adding that she found that neither seemed to have learnt from their mistakes and they seemingly had “a challenge respecting the law”. (SD)