Barbados Today

A 33-year-old man, who explained that he had turned to a life of crime after his entire family perished in a house fire, will spend the next 30 months at HMP Dodds.

Damien Debarge Wilkinson, of Kings Village, Dayrell’s Road, St Michael, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Douglas Frederick to committing a long list of burglaries in 2017.

Wilkinson, who entered the dock of the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court with the aid of crutches, also claimed that he committed the offences because “no one would help me”.

He admitted to entering the home of Andrea Dennison as a trespasser and stealing two bottles of alcohol worth $160, as well as to entering Emmanuel Bernardin’s house on November 18 and stealing a television worth $600 and two cellular phones worth $750. He also entered the home of Janet Browne where he stole a television worth $1,050.

Sometime between December 9 and 14, Wilkinson said he entered The School House for Special Needs as a trespasser and stole two televisions worth $3,700. He also loitered on the premises of Helen James with intent to commit theft during that same period.

In all the burglaries the homeowners secured the houses and returned to find that it had broken into and the items missing. In the case of the school, the principal came in and found the main door had been tampered with and the items missing. The culprit also left behind the message “LOL” on the wall.

“That sound like a mad man ting Sir, I came and found that there. It looks like a mad man was there before me,” Wilkinson told the magistrate.

He also explained that he had gone through “a serious tragedy” some years ago when he lost his mother, father and younger sister in a fire around Foreday Morning.

“I start smoking cocaine and get in trouble over and over and nobody don’t help me. Everybody telling me I always in jail, but nobody helping me. I would like to learn to do joinery. It does be really hard on a man when he doesn’t have anyone to help him,” Wilkinson said.

However, Frederick explained to known thief that the school that he had broken into was for people with special needs who needed more help than he did.

“That should hurt you to the core because they are asking just like you, just to get through,” the magistrate told Wilkinson who answered, “I didn’t know that. I thought it was a normal place.”

Wilkinson returns before the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on March 5 where two outstanding cases against him will continue.