A 30-year-old Salisbury man was sentenced to one year behind bars for the stealing two bottles of Red Cap and one bottle of Red Bull from Green’s Wholesale.
Brian Francis pleaded guilty to theft before Magistrate Evalina Baptiste Tuesday morning at the Roseau Magistrate Court.
According to the facts surrounding the case, on April 30 Francis was suspected of the offense while departing the store by the supermarket security officers who searched him and found the items in his pocket.
The episode was reported to police who made further investigations. When questioned by police Francis responded, “Officer I know I take the drink I was drinking. I figure out I tired spend.”
The defendant is known to authorities and has several previous offenses.
Who is thisTruth, Justice, Love, Peace and Unity always on everybody’s case. DNO should start charging you for these long so call gospels you here trying to preach, Go buy a spot in the news paper or on the radio.
Perhaps the magistrate is implementing the 3-strike law (althought it is not on the books). 3 strikes and you are put away for a year.
Allu beating up allu selves while Brian did not seem to care two hoots about his fate. If he had cared, he would have pleaded not guilty. Instead he was brazen enough to say “Officer I know I take the drink I was drinking. I figure out I tired spend.”
Go figure. I cannot shed tears for people who will not shed it for themselves.
true words! you are a smart person Piper!
evalina baptist has been known to hand down inconsistant verdit, like crack cocaine possession, please pay 500. and these are the wolves that wanted to devour behanzine.
darker times ahead……. one year for red cap a $16.00 value and a man cheated the state from collecting over $59000.00 in land taxes and over $450000.00 for bins and he is praised everday…..
lord help US!
This is crazy! How come a young offender can willfully rob and steal over 10,000 EC of electric equipment a bicycle and a swiper and other items from someone’s home in the Layou valley and be given a fine of 2,500 EC dollars to pay by 31st October or spend a year in jail; this offender had already been in prison for stealing so it was his second offence!! The person in this article has just stolen two bottles of redcap rum and got a year in prison straight away. How on earth do the magistrates make their decisions, based on what, it appears pie in the sky to me! Totally crazy!! LOL
Ridiculous – we should all put together to help this man take this to a higher court, and then the judge should be jailed. All our murderers are walking around loose!!!
One year for stealing two bottles? I think this is ridiculous. This man needs rehabilitation and should be given instructions on honesty and warned not to steal what which does not belong to him. Is there not such a system in Dominica?
He should have been ordered to perform community work and also pay the cost of the items. This would greatly benefit the Dominican society rather than putting him away for a year.
…And the government wants to legalize marijuana, be it a small possession? You have it all wrong.
hahahahaahahahahahahahaa……lol…………hhahahahaahhahahaahhaha…..lmbo!!!!
Brian should be “given instructions on honesty and warned”…..hahahahahahaha.
Please tell me I am not the only one who finds this totally ridiculous. lol…..hahahhahahahaaa.
Try warning and instructing a donkey not to be a donkey. Tell me how that works for you and if you succeed then I suggest the court hand Brian over to your more than capable hands.
Ya’ll lamenting on Brian and he well happy where he is at his home.
@ Halian
We have reasons to comment just as you. You are not a smart one. Who laughs last laughs best; gets the last laugh. Some of you laugh at everything and what which you should not laugh at but should take seriously.
If there is one other thing which I detest is negativity. You are one who is too negative. You do not have confidence in others and that they could be rehabilitated. It all depends on your mentality. It may be too that you do not have confidence in yourself. Types like you bring others down including your country.
I have confidence in people that they could be changed, given the opportunity to do so. Life is an on-going and learning process for the better. What benefits one, benefits the other and vice versa. Obviously, the man cannot change by himself. He will need help; government and other government department’s help.
If Dominica had an appropriate system to assist those people, be it that they have been chronic thieves but petty ones, they could be assisted.
The thought of going to prison for a year or more should be enough to scare them and make them turn their lives around.
Have you ever considered that they never received help from society since their youth and were ignored by their own government(s) of yesteryear which is the reason why some of them have turned out this way?
Some of them plead with the magistrate to give them a chance. They are projecting that they need help. Read between the lines of what they are saying. They are people too. Listen to them.
What help could this man get in prison?
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “For human beings these things are impossible but it is not impossible for God.”
Life consists of successes and failures; trials and errors and vice versa. Nothing beats a failure but a trial and, if at first you do not succeed try again. Those proverbs and statements are not stated in vain. They have been around longer than anyone who is residing on earth. They are passed on from generation to generation and will be repeated, adopted and practiced until the end of time.
There is some truth in them and they are not stated without good cause. No one is beyond rehabilitation. There are some hard-core criminals/murderers and drug addicts who have been rehabilitated and have gone on to be exemplary citizens.
People need a chance. If you always bring them down and expect the worst out of them this is what they will be and creating havoc in the land. They will be sent to prison and remain there until they die. I am stating that from youth society has failed them, be it there very own parents who probably did not appropriately nurture them.
As a citizen, you could commence by being positive to help transform some of those people for the sake of peace and safety in Dominica. Do you not have good ideas on how you could transform society, the one in which you reside in?
Do something for them, for Dominica and cease your negativity and cease laughing at sensible comments. Those who are negative depict that they are also bitter people. They also do not encourage others to do good. Learn about human relations and assisting others and your country.
Be a confident, useful and fruitful citizen. Be loving, helpful and humble.
Matthew 5:48 – So be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Luke 6:36 – Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
I am all for positivity and nation building. I reside in Dominica and would be real foolish to want to see it crumble. But there comes a time when every psychologist, religious leader and counselor knows that there is nothing more to be done for an individual and (to use colloquial terms) “wash their hands” of that person.
And I only dared comment and speak on this news article because I know the individual quite well and know exactly what I am talking about. And while I can agree that some people turn out to be troubled because of a disastrous childhood, I also know that some people are just downright wicked and do not care about themselves like others seem to care for them.
And in that case I will “wash my hands” of them and call me negative all you want, I stand by my comments.
Murderers spend a few days behind bars and are out on our streets,and for two bottles of rum the man is sent to prison for a year…. Our justice system is in total shambles…. What a country!!!!!!!
Really…for 3 bottles of alcohol, an entire year in jail? I have nothing else to say.
Am dominican living abroad and reading of such results for stealing a few botlles of beer in down right pathetic. If The dominican government wants to add revenue to its budget, why don’t they star ticketing people for such crimes, by making them pay the courts and if they are unable to then they’d be sent to jail. Why send someone to jail for a year,where more money is going to be spent, keeping him there’?????
I am happy to pay taxes for Brian to stay in jail.
And ya’ll people like to say you living abroad like that really matters. No one gives a “souwee bottom”!!!
We the ones living in Dominica know what we going through. And stop talking like D/ca is the only country people going to jail for small and “pathetic” things.
Brian wanted to go back at his home so he went at Green’s (as close to the court as he could) and said, “Come and get me.”
Gason go back to Haiti.
I will forgive you because you informed me in advance that you were brain damaged. So I will go ahead and assume that you do not know the difference between an ‘l’ and a ‘t’.
Some of us brain damaged people think that Haitians are less than we are. The only difference they have between you and I is the piece of rock they just happened to be born on.
holy crap, man getting more jail time for rum than crack;
I WONDER WHY DNO DELETING MY COMMENTS
Brian Francis gets one year for stealing but the sexual assult suspect don’t even get a trail…Dominica is going backwards and DNO I know I sent you the proof you needed. A young woman was sexually assulted in broad day light and nothing is done about it…instead the suspect was encouraged by the public to assult the young woman. I got the link for face book and I forwarded it to DNO and REBM however nothing has been done about it. Why doesn’t the Police Station have an email address?
Admin: what email address did you send it to? Please resend to [email protected].
that’s the one I use but I will resent the minute I get home. I’m sick of Grand-Bay people swipping things under the rug…they’ll see things happen and they will not do a thing about it…NOT THIS TIME…IF I HAVE TO PAY TO PUT IN THE NEWSPAPER I WILL
did you guys read the article? He is well known to authories, and has many previous convictions
EXACTLY!!!!!
Its not like its his first time…. The State Prison is well known as Brian’s home. He usually visits the community of Salisbury for a couple of weeks or maybe months if he is lucky and then he goes back and we like it like that.
I will be sleeping very soundly tonight…..so thank you Magistrate Evalina Baptiste.
That legal system is just too ridiculous..
VERY DISGUSTING FOR REAL 1YEAR FOR A BOTTLE OF RUM THAT’S A SHAME…WHAT HAPPEN TO COMMUNITY SERVICE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT…
Community service??!!!!
Do you know how much SERVICE the court just did to the COMMUNITY of Salisbury by sending Brian to jail??? Well let me educate you…… they did A LOT!!!!
you think that was necessary a bottle of rum please, so much child molesters and murderous ,drug dealer and rapes that get in away in dominica.a bottle of rum the man going to prison for.the justice system in Dominica is clue less, i wonder if they really went to law school.poor judgment.what he did was not right, but so is the decision of the court.
Alan Aaron they have one caught on tape and they’re not doing anything about it yet they want to give a man a year for stealing a bottle of rum.
Seriously feed, shelter and provide medical care to a man for 1 year because he shoplifted a bottle of run and a can of redd bull.! Who are we punishinghim or the tax payers who already have it hard or Mr. Francis. Order the man to pay back 10X the price of the item in restitution to the store or give him 3 months in prison but seriously A YEAR!!!! It will cost us a lot more than the items stolen to house him in Stocky!!
We have poor families and homeless who could benifit from the money we spend on that guy.
Let ppl who are tormented by Brian day and night talk. Not you!!
I am soooo happy is a year he get but I wish he could get more. For all I care they can leave him in prison instead of putting him out just for him to go back a couple weeks or months later.
He already said he is tired of spending to buy the drinks so do you think he will pay the court any money?
Your issue with him is personal, it seems to me this man needs rehabilitation but what ever the case, one year in prison is too severe for such a crime
brian francis goes to jail for one year for stealing two bottles of red cap rum. what a shame, the miss use of tax payers money continues as he has to be feed, clothed, and health care providec for. is that justice compared to the bin bobool, 400,000 us dollars which was changed to counterfit notes while in possesion of a member of cabinet, the villias, the land transfer taxes evadied, among a list of other white colour crimes committed by politicians?????. the poor will always be the ones facing the brunt of the law, justice is for the less fortunate while the cabal enjoy emunity. what a shame. Brian Francis was arrested however for a bench warrant issued by the court the lawyer has not come close to the police charge office far less to be arrested.
hummmmm true wii i tired spend too! but i does just but it back