Tariq Shemaar St. Ville is a male adult of Bath Estate and works with the Longshore and Stevedore Services at the Woodbridge Bay Port Fond Cole.
The complainant Iordanka Stoitzev 36 years of Switzerland a high school teacher in her country and in Dominica on vacation.
Brief Facts
On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at about 11 pm the complaint along with three other friends left Kai Tai Restaurant & Bar located on Old Street Roseau and while walking, in the vicinity of the Roseau Old Market, an unknown young man approached Stoitzev, held her by her arms and stole a yellow waist bag which she kept strapped along her body. The accused made good his escape.
In the bag were sunglasses, an orange purse with EC$350.00, a white iPhone, white headphones, Visa, and Maestro bank cards that were not recovered. She made a report to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
On Wednesday, March 8, 2023, the police investigating the matter received footage of the incident and were able to identify the accused in the video.
On Friday, March 10, 2023, a search warrant was obtained in the name of the accused, and on arrival at his home was not present. On Saturday, March 11, 2023, the accused was arrested and brought to police headquarters and then to his home where the search warrant was executed, nothing liable to seizure was found.
He was taken to police headquarters and questioned and then took the police to an abandoned house in Virgin Lane where the yellow waist bag and some of its contents were recovered.
He was arrested and charged with theft and appeared before Chief Magistrate Candia Carette George where the charge was read to him. He pleaded guilty.
Mitigating
He was represented by lawyer Wayne Norde who, in mitigating on his behalf told the court that his client was “sorry for his actions, was remorseful, a first-time offender with no previous convictions, and had not wasted the courts time.” Norde begged the court to not impose a custodial sentence on him telling the court that he was 21 years old and during his time in police custody he was able to “think and reflect on his actions.”
Sentencing
Before passing sentence on him, Chief Magistrate Carette-George admonished him for his behaviour and explained to him that his actions had far-reaching implications for Dominica given the facts that the incident involved “a foreign national” who was holidaying in Dominica.
“Stay on the straight and narrow path of the law, try your best not to touch people’s things, right now you have a bad police record and to compound it all you hurt Dominica giving the country a bad name but stealing from a foreign national who was on the island vacationing,” she said.
She then imposed a fine of EC$2,000.00 on him to be paid on or before June 30, 2023, in default five (5) months in jail. The EC$350.00 was not recovered. Meantime, after his release from the court, St. Ville was rearrested by the police again for other offenses.
Jahhhh! This guy had a job, eno. He was employed like many other men from the Roseau area who work on the Port. Is this a case of “wanting it now?!” SMFH! And what of the potential damage done to the tourist industry? In some jurisdictions, crimes against tourists are deemed to be more severe than others because of their potential to disrupt the economy and lives of many who depend on the tourist dollar. Mista should be made to cough up the $350 and added costs for the tourist and then face punishment. We are too soft on these criminals in Dominica!.