“Prolific Burglar” Appears In Supreme Court

Neville Woods, 44, of St George’s, who was described as a prolific burglar with a criminal career spanning a quarter-century appeared for sentencing in Supreme Court on Friday afternoon.

Justice Charles-Etta Simmon remanded Woods into custody to re-appear at the February Arraignments Session and required a Social Inquiry Report and a Bermuda Assessment Referral Centre report.

Woods was originally convicted in Magistrates’ Court on four counts of burglaries and handling stolen goods. In the earlier Magistrates Court proceedings, it transpired that a subsequent police search of the defendant’s home turned up many other stolen items.

At this December trial, it was pointed out that Woods was last released from prison in June 2012, and been arrested again in November 2012. At the Supreme Court session, lawyer Oonagh Vaucrosson said that Woods had been in Police custody since 24th November 2012.

In Magistrates Court in the December hearing, the Magistrate was informed that Woods “… has been linked to at least 15 burglaries in the past seven months…” Citing a criminal record of similar offences spanning 25 years, Crown Prosecutor Garrett Byrne had said: “The public needs to be protected from him. He is a prolific offender.”

Mr Byrne called for a maximum custodial sentence and suggested to the Magistrate that Woods should be sent up to the Supreme Court for sentencing. The Senior Magistrate agreed and committed the case to Supreme Court for sentencing.

In the lower Court, Mr Woods had told the Magistrate that he had “fallen on hard times”. Woods said: “I’m trying to turn my life around. I need help. When I got out of prison they sent me right back out on the street. I didn’t even have a shed to sleep in”.

Crown Counsel Maria Sofianos recommended a sentence between 8 and 12 years with a minimum of half or 10 years to be served before parole.

For Woods, lawyer Vaucrosson said that he had come from a broken family, had been addicted to drugs since he was a teenager, had weaned himself off hard drugs and onto marijuana. She said that he would benefit from support and counseling and recommended a six month sentence followed by a Work Release program.

Justice Simmons said that at some point in time a person had to take charge of his own life, and that a forty-four year old man must accept responsibility for his own actions.

Before remanding him into custody, Justice Simmons warned Mr Woods that he should not presume that he would be escaping a custodial sentence. She said that the only matter was ‘how long’?

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