BRAZILIAN national, Jonatas Santos Ferreira was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment by Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on a break and enter and larceny charge on Thursday.

The 23-year-old convict pleaded guilty to the charge, particulars of which said that between April 13 and 14, at Georgetown, he broke and entered the dwelling house of Marciel Coehlo and stole a quantity of gold and diamond jewellery valued at $2M, along with one Apple IPod and one HP Notebook, both valued at $280,000.

Police Corporal Bharat Mangru, prosecuting, said the accused and the victim are known to each other, since they lived in separate rooms in the same apartment.

On the day in question, the virtual complainant (VC) left for work; and upon his return, he noticed that his room had been ransacked. After a search was carried out, he discovered the articles mentioned in the charge missing. He made a report to the police, and the accused was arrested while trying to escape to Brazil. A ring valued $180,000 and a pendant valued $150,000 were recovered in his pants pocket.

The unrepresented prisoner told the court that he is guilty of stealing the jewellery, but not of breaking and entering the home. He said that, on the day in question, he was drinking with the VC at a restaurant when someone came and told him that his house had been broken into.

He explained that he is employed with the VC, hence his reason for being in Guyana.

The Chief Magistrate took into consideration several factors before handing down sentence. She said the defendant had abused the trust of the VC, his employer, by stealing the items from him.

She also considered that the defendant was only 23 years old, and that he had accepted responsibility for the offence by pleading guilty, thereby taking responsibility for his actions.