St. Joseph Street Burglar Steals from His Own Cousin

Tonight, a young man is spending his third night behind bars after being sentenced to three months for burglary. Jaheem Young, a twenty-three-year-old boat repairer from Saint Joseph Street, Belize City, appeared in court this morning. He pleaded guilty to breaking into his cousin’s home on Freetown Road and stealing a white speaker valued at two hundred and fifty dollars on December twenty-second, 2024. Young, who was unrepresented, faced two charges, but the second charge of sexual assault wasn’t read as the court awaits further instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Despite his guilty plea for burglary, Young showed no remorse, which the prosecutor highlighted, especially since the victim was his own cousin. The prosecutor pushed for a minimum seven-year sentence, but Chief Magistrate Jayani Wegodapola considered that this was Young’s first conviction for a crime of dishonesty or violence. She opted for a three-month sentence instead. Young also had two outstanding fines from previous convictions—one for drug possession and another for a traffic offense. These fines will run concurrently with his three-month sentence, allowing him to clear his record by the time he is released in 2025. The sexual assault charge has been adjourned to January twenty-ninth, 2025, pending further directives from the D.P.P.