Couple jailed for stealing security camera

A Barrackpore couple who stole a security camera set from Pricesmart in La Romaine were each sentenced to nine months in jail with hard labour.

Neil and Mala Deonarine pleaded guilty before senior Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the San Fernando First Magistrates’ Court yesterday. They were arrested while leaving the store on Friday.

Prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan said that around 4.30pm on Friday, security officers at Pricesmart saw the couple take several items from the shelves and try to leave without paying for them.

They were stopped at the exit and the guards found a security camera system, three ladies’ vests and one men's short pants hidden in Mala's handbag.

WPC De Bourg of the San Fernando Police was contacted and the couple were arrested.

In court yesterday, Neil said while he and Mala were browsing in Pricesmart, she saw the security camera system and told him it would "look good" at their home.

Questioned by Antoine, Neil, 49, said, "My wife tell me that camera system will look good home by we and I tell she we can't afford it, and she tell me put in she handbag and I did it."

Mala, 44, said, "I see the camera system and I liked it and I wanted it. We don't have plenty money so I tell my husband put it in my bag."

They both apologised to the court.

Neil said they have a 14-year-old son who has lived with his grandparents from infancy. Neil said he is a labourer but does not get much work and Mala said she is a geriatric caregiver.

Antoine said while Neil is a first-time offender, his wife is not, as she has a conviction for making a false declaration and larceny in the Princes Town Magistrates Court in 1998.

Mala said she had changed her life after that incident.

Asked why they had stolen the camera, Mala replied, "He does go to work from half two in the morning and it does be only me home."

She said they had not planned to sell the camera system.

Antoine told them they should have saved their money and bought the camera instead of stealing it.