Tyrone Smith Sentenced to Seven Years for Chain Snatching

Tyrone Smith

Thirty-year-old Tyrone Smith was today sentenced to seven years in prison after he was found guilty of beating up a pregnant woman before snatching her purse. Smith, an unemployed of Raccoon Street Extension in Belize City, attacked twenty-year-old Scarlett Zelaya on October twenty-seventh, 2013 on a side street near the Lord Ridge Cemetery. Zelaya testified that she exited at the bus stop by the cemetery area and began to walk.  While texting on her phone, Smith walked passed her said good afternoon and moments later, snatched her bag containing fifty dollars cash, some jewelry and personal documents. Zelaya says Smith then began to drag her more towards the burial ground area, but fought with her attacker while on the ground. Zelaya, who was then four months pregnant, says Smith punch her repeatedly in the face before he ran away with her purse. Police detained Smith shortly after. Two witnesses were called by the prosecutor and Smith’s fate was sealed. In his defense, Smith claimed it wasn’t him, but Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith found him guilty of the charge sentenced him to seven years in prison. So tonight, Smith is spending his second night in jail.