3 years in jail for man who stole from church

Shawn Persaud called “Shawn Yhap”, a 47-year-old man of Lot 67 Pike Street, Kitty, Georgetown, who was previously sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for break and enter and larceny, has been sent to jail again for stealing two amplifiers from a church.

A three-year prison sentence was imposed on him last week when he appeared before Magistrate Ruschelle Liverpool at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Courts.
Particulars of the charge to which he pleaded guilty, stated that between January 24 and 25, 2022, he broke into the Full-life New Testament Church of God at Lot 118 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and stole two amplifiers valued at $680,000.
Police Prosecutor Sergeant Visram Ramjattan, in narrating the facts, said that on Sunday, January 23, 2022, Persaud and a woman went to the church seeking assistance, claiming that they had lost everything in a house fire.
As such, they received help in the form of clothing and other items from church members. On January 24, 2022, members of the church secured the premises and left.
But when they returned the following day, they observed that the church had been broken into and the amplifiers missing.
Persons in the neighbourhood informed the church members that they saw a man and a woman, both with haversacks on their backs, leaving the church yard on January 25, 2022.
A report was made to the Police and on July 4, 2022, Persaud was pointed out by persons in the village as the man who was seen leaving the church with a backpack.
When arrested by the Police and cautioned, Persaud admitted to breaking into the place of worship and stealing the items.
This is not the first time he has been in trouble with the law.
In fact, in October of last year, he was sentenced to four years in prison on two counts of break and enter and larceny when he appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Courts.
He committed the offences on October 12, 2022, on the homes of Pricillia Ramcharran and Diana Agrippa. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to both charges.
The two two-year jail sentences were ordered to run consecutively. (G1)