Magistrate sends two young men to prison to contemplate their future as she considers their sentence

Two young men who were allegedly involved in the skirmishes in the vicinity of the YMCA Sports Complex have been remanded to His Majesty’s Prison.

There were at least four incidents last Friday (February 3) involving students from various schools and in which the police had to intervene and detain several of them.

The two young men, aged 19 years, do not attend school and were caught by the police after fleeing from the YMCA.

The police arrested and charged Kenzia Cochrane of Gray’s Farm and Jaheim Christopher of Golden Grove for carrying an offensive weapon and they were taken before Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh on Monday (February 6).

Both young men pleaded guilty to the charge, however, they denied being involved in any clash or even being at the YMCA Sports Complex.

The duo alleges that they were on their way home from work when the police held them.

One of the teens was reportedly caught with a kitchen knife, which he claimed to have taken away from his cousin. He told the court that the weapon was inside his relative’s knapsack.  When asked how he knew the knife was inside the bag, he was unable to explain.

The other one said he was leaving from work as a landscaper. Reportedly he had an apparatus secured around his waist to fasten a cutlass.

Persons notified the police of the respective incidents and these two reportedly fled from YMCA after seeing the lawmen.  One was caught in the vicinity of the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) and the other nearby to the Deluxe Cinema.

Both young men denied running from the police and could not tell the magistrate why they were running.

Chief Magistrate Walsh instead of imposing sentence right away decided to give them a week at His Majesty’s pleasure until she can decide on their fate.

She is hoping that a week in prison will also give them some time to reflect on their life and future.

They return to court next week Monday (February 13).

Meanwhile, one of the teens was before the court on January 24 on a charge of possession of cannabis.  He is still to pay the fine for that charge.