SHAWN Bascom will be spending the next three years behind bars.

Bascom appeared before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to robbery with violence.

Unrepresented by counsel, Bascom admitted that on June 9, 2019, at Falls Gas Station, Land of Canaan, EBD, while being in the company of another, robbed Zing Ting Fei of $500,000 cash while using personal violence. The unrepresented man told the court that for the past two weeks he had not been getting work and his friend “linked’’ him with the “work.” “I was high and frustrated, he told the court as he explained that prior to carrying out the robbery, he had been consuming alcohol. Bascom explained further that his father is sick and he also wanted money to see his four-year-old daughter for Father’s Day.
“I wasn’t in my right mind because I was under the influence of alcohol” Bascom said, as he begged the court to be lenient with him.

Police Prosecutor Ceon Blackman explained that on the day in question around 21:05hrs, the victim  Zing Fei, a supervisor at Falls Gas Station had the proceeds of the day’s sales in a bag and was exiting the establishment; however, he was ambushed by Bascom and another man; the other man reportedly choked Fei, while Bascom relieved him of the bag containing the cash. Bascom tried to escape, but was apprehended by a security officer who was on duty at the gas station; his accomplice, however, escaped.

Blackman told the court that Bascom was handed over to the police and during the investigation, the man told the officers, ” No risk, no reward,” when he was questioned about the robbery. The prosecutor asked the magistrate to give Bascom his reward in sentencing, which should deter others from contemplating similar crimes.

The magistrate told Bascom, ” He who takes the benefit, must also take the burden,” as she sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.