$98 Grocery Thief Sentenced To Six Months
Kevin Webb, 49, pleaded guilty in Magistrates Court this morning [Oct 11] to stealing sherry, port, chourico sausages, tuna, soup, and other items to the value of $98 from Somers Supermarket on 27th August 2013. He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Crown Prosecutor Maria Sofianos told Senior Magistrate Archie Warner that the stores CCTV system had tracked Webb as he entered the store while wearing a flat backpack. Webb was tracked as he picked up the items and put them into a shopping basket. The system tracked him entering the store employee’s bathroom.
It then tracked him coming out with a full backpack and leaving the store without going to a cashier. Police were called and Webb was arrested on 29th August.
This morning Webb explained his actions saying: “I’m totally sorry. It’s been a tough three years. Years ago I fought and beat people up. Now I take a bottle of wine and take a trip….”
Webb’s record as summarized by the Crown indicated that Webb had similar offences committed at other stores.
On receiving his six month sentence, Webb raised his left hand and said: “I send a shout-out to all my friends at Westgate.” Webb’s six month incarceration for this offence begins today.
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Wetgate vacation villas – that’s how these guys see Bermuda’s version of prison. Get a hug from Uncle Eddie as you come in, and catch up with friends at dinner. All expenses paid, no bills at check-out. What’s on the menu for dinner tonight?
We need to get rid uncle Eddie, come on O.B.A, FIRE HIS A**….
Bermuda is so full of IDIOTS!
Oh what a tangled WEBB we weave when we practice to deceive,.
So 98$ of stolen groceries gets 6 months. Beating somebody to near death gets 5 years. Therefore, by my calculations, a human life is legally worth… ~1000$? lol
Harder times are coming,,
The better part of $50,000 for the arrest,court costs and prison to punish a $98 dollar crime,no wonder we are broke!
How ironic that he sentenced him to 6 months of free groceries.
Government should pay back the $98 to Somers in exchange for him mowing the entire St. George’s golf course. That’s a win win.
These laws are for the birds they can’t be serious 6 months that makes no damn sense Bermuda is one backwards place and they call the US backwards. Need to look in the mirror.
not saying what he did was right but now we have to pay to house him for 6 months for $98 in groceries.. this poor @SS system has failed us all makes me sick to call myself a Bermudian (times like these)
6 months for $98 worth of groceries. What’s that equates to? $16.33 per month? That’s crazy!
He could of packed shelves until the $98.00 was paid off. Now he has 3 squares of free food for has 6 months.
To the Family Man, who calls Westgate a vacation villa. Suggest you speak to a prison officer, a volunteer who works there, or even an ex inmate to get a true picture, instead of buying into a popular myth.
Our criminal justice system is based on a colonial punitive system. Just read Charles Dickens or the character of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables to understand the shoulders on which our criminal justice system stands.
No-one is served by this sentence… not the guy who stole $98 of groceries, society who has to pay the cost of incarceration, and most of all it doesn’t serve justice.
We need to apply restorative justice to our criminal justice system. Our current (post colonial) justice system focuses on “Who did it?” and “How do we punish him/her?” Restorative justice focuses on “Who was hurt?” “How do we make things better for the victim and their family?” How was community or society hurt? How do we help the perpetrator not to do this again. It does not just focus on the actual victim of a crime, e.g. robbery, but also looks to how it has impacted their lives, their trauma, their family AND also looks to the family of the perpetrator as victims, e.g. did he have children, how will they cope without a breadwinner, what can be done to ensure they don’t suffer too.
Perhaps in this particular case the money that is being spent on incarcerating this man for 6 months could have been spent far more wisely on repairing some of this damage.
If Cashiers and Staff pay more attention to their work instead of Gossiping,Eating at the Cash Desk and Texting as they do,this guy might not have been able to steal the stuff in the first instance and we the Bermuda Public would not have to pay out OUR Tax Dollars to keep him in Westgate.
I fell sorry for this man he was hungry and that may have been the only way he saw fit to feed him and maybe his family we have a lot of people that are out of work at least he did not steal rum like so many others have.
umm sherry is liquor, as is port…
Well guess who gets xmas dinner with their friends this year. Thanks to our lovely court system. Surely we could have found a better way of dealing with a case like this.
What the courts should be doing is sentencing these petty thieves to “SHAME”. Have them parade the sidewalk outside of the “Five Finger Discount” stores,carrying a sign stating what they stole!! This wont only embarrass,shame and deter them from ever doing it again but also anyone thinking about doing the same!
Often these crooks are punished and only their names are revealed,if there was a face to the name, that would make a big difference!! For ALL to SEE not just a few who know them by name!!