PRINCIPAL Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Thursday released a 44-year-old vendor on $100,000 bail after he was charged with stealing a cellphone from the handbag of a midwife of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Shawn Smith of Dennis Street, Kitty, confessed that on January 7, 2019, at New Market Street, Georgetown, he stole a Samsung Galaxy cellphone, valued $100,000, the property of Kathleen Bristol.

According to the facts presented in court, Bristol, a midwife attached to the GPHC, had, around 04:50 hours on the day in question, fallen asleep in the nurses’ room. When she awoke, she found her handbag in a nearby chair and not in the location where she had left it.

Police Prosecutor Adoni Innis explained that on opening her handbag, Bristol discovered that her cellphone was missing and she was informed that a man clad in a green and black jersey was seen in the room. That led to the arrest of Smith by security personnel. The missing phone was found in Smith’s possession.

Smith told the magistrate that he took his pregnant girlfriend to the hospital and was on a bench in the waiting room when he saw the cellphone and picked it up.

“Fifteen minutes later, the people start inquiring about the phone and I declare the phone when they said that nobody cannot go outside till the phone find,” Smith told the court.
The unrepresented man begged the court for leniency. However, Prosecutor Innis told the court that Smith was previously convicted for robbery under arms and was imprisoned for one year.

Smith denied the prosecutor’s allegation and told the magistrate that he was never charged.
The magistrate fixed January 15, 2019, for the next hearing and advised the prosecutor to get more information on Smith’s criminal background. Smith was released on $100,000 bail.