Complete breach of trust as two young thieves steal from former employer

Monday 04 February 2019

Two young men with extensive criminal records have been jailed for 28 weeks each, for trespassing in a warehouse and looting a number of coats and bags they found inside.

Liam Wakeford, 18, and Jordan Moore-Vieira, 21, were seen trespassing in the warehouse, where Wakeford had previously worked, on the night of 9 December, 2018.

The entire incident was caught on CCTV, showing how they arrived at the site, walked through the unlocked door, and went to the canteen. Inside the canteen, the pair were caught taking and putting on a jacket and a cap, and also going through bags and other coats to steal matches, a lighter, paracetamol, a set of keys, rolling tobacco and a cigarette rolling machine. The court noted that during the theft, the two didn't take items of higher value, such as an iPad.

Judge Cherry McMillan said they both had a "cavalier attitude" when they were inside the property, and that Wakeford had totally breached the trust of his former employer by using knowledge of the premises he had from working there, to know they would be able to enter.

Wakeford had drunk "too much rum" and Moore-Vieira "a bottle of Vodka".  

Both young men were drunk at the time, and the Magistrate's Court heard they had gone to the warehouse to use the food machine because Wakeford wanted some cuppa-soup. Judge McMillan said this story was "fanciful". 

Just days before this offence took place, Judge McMillan had sentenced Wakeford for other crimes. At that time, he had broken a suspended sentence he was given months earlier, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and gave him a community service order. The fact he had left court and ignored all of her words had disappointed her deeply, she said.

"I was told you had learnt your lesson, and I wonder whether you were just laughing inside because you knew the words of your advocate didn't truly reflect how you felt. I gave you the trust of the court. You have done your best to prove to me that you were not worth it. Apparently you are unable to respond to non-custodial sentences, so it is necessary for the protection of the public and for the prevention of crime to give you a sentence of youth detention."

Wakeford's suspended sentence and alternative to his CSO were both activated, and he was given an additional 16 weeks of detention, so he was given 28 weeks in total.

Moore-Vieira was 21 during this sentencing, so old enough to go to Les Nicolles. 

Moore-Vieira had a criminal record which Judge McMillan reacted to "in horror" - he has committed nine different offences in 2016, three in 2017 and five in 2018, and has spent the majority of that three year period inside youth detention. He was also charged with driving a car while uninsured and without a licence on the 27 October.

Judge McMillan accused him of taking advantage of a young friend's knowledge of the premises. He was given 28 weeks in prison, as he is now 21, and was disqualified from driving for one year. 

Both men's sentences started on the 13 December, when they were first remanded in custody. They applied for bail on the 24 December, so they could be let out of custody for Christmas, but that was rejected.