A FORTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD man was sentenced to four years imprisonment yesterday for robbing a 10-year-old girl of her gold earrings, using personal violence.
Puran Totaram (no address given) appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who inflicted the custodial penalty on him after he admitted committing the crime on March 9. Police Sergeant Lionel Harvey, prosecuting, said the child was walking on a road in Sophia, Greater Georgetown, when the convict attempted to remove her earrings.
However, when the child retaliated, the robber became annoyed and cuffed her about her face.
The prosecutor said public-spirited citizens went to the child’s rescue and took her to a hospital while Totaram escaped but he was arrested recently.
Attorney-at-law Mr. Mohammed Zaffar, for the Defence, said Totaram wants to change his plea, to not guilty, because he was under the influence of alcohol when he admitted robbing the girl.
The magistrate informed the lawyer that a defendant’s plea is free and voluntary and counsel then said he would assist in providing the court with mitigating factors.
Totaram maintained he was under the influence of alcohol when the incident occurred and not conscious of what he did.

ABDUCTION
The girl’s father, who was present with her in court, tendered a picture of his daughter two weeks after the robbery and said the police should also have charged the defendant for abduction.
The father claimed that Totaram picked up his daughter at Industry, East Coast Demerara, while she was on her way home from school and took her to Sophia.
The magistrate held up the photograph to show the defendant what injuries he caused the child and told him the medical certificate proved that he also choked the girl.
Before imposing sentence, the magistrate said she considered the mitigating factor of the defendant pleading guilty to save the court time, but also took into account that the aggravation was more, with the degree of violence the defendant used on a 10-year-old.