18 months in the slammer for stolen lumber

Leandro Roches

Unlike Matura, forty-three year old Leandro Roches will be serving an eighteen month jail term effective today following his conviction for the offense of burglary.   Roches, who was on remand at the Belize Central Prison, was accused of burglarizing and stealing, on the night of October thirty-first,  2012, three pieces of lumber from the storeroom of Sebastian Miranda located at the corner of Jones Avenue and McKay.  The prosecutor, Sergeant Egbert Castillo, called two witnesses to the stand, including Miranda.   Miranda testified that when he caught Roches with the lumber, he confiscated it and then called the police because he never gave Roches permission to enter his store room.  Before he was sentenced, Roches in mitigation told the Chief Magistrate that he will accept whatever penalty is imposed because he knows he did wrong. Even though the penalty for burglary is stiffer, the eighteen-month sentence was imposed on him because he is a first time offender.