Trinidad – MAN STEALS MONEY TO PAY FINE FOR STEALING

FINED $5,000 by a Chaguanas magistrate earlier this month for stealing a tool from a relative, a man stole $10,000 from another relative to pay the fine and is now in police custody.The suspect is expected to appear before a Chaguanas magistrate today.Police recovered $2,000 and arrested the man a few days ago. PC Gaskin of the Freeport police station is leading the investigation.On October 4, the man pleaded guilty before magistrate Rajendra Rambachan for stealing his brother’s saw which he sold via social media. The magistrate ordered the man to pay the fine within six weeks or serve nine months’ hard labour in jail.The 24-year-old man, who lives at Carlsen Field in Chaguanas, claimed to be “under some financial pressures.”The owner secured the tool at the family’s home and returned two days later. He checked, but the $6000 saw was missing.He made a report to Freeport police and PC Seerattan later arrested the man’s brother who initially denied having any knowledge of it. He later confessed to having financial problems, so he stole and posted the tool for sale on Facebook. Someone bought it for $2,500, he told the police.