'Repulsive' thief jailed for stealing charity box

Friday 19 October 2018

After stealing a charity box belonging to Ernie's Angels, a man has been sent to prison for eight months.

Jason Gauvain, 33, pleaded guilty to the offence in Guernsey's Magistrate court yesterday where he also had a previous suspended sentence enacted giving him two extra months in prison.

The court heard that just after 05:00 on 22 August, Gauvain had gone into Hansen's Grab 'N' Go Sandwich Bar at the lower Pollet where he bought a hot drink and packet of crisps, which he consumed in the shop.

Staff were busy, going between the public and food preparation areas, but noticed when the defendant had left that the Ernie's Angels charity box which sat on the counter had gone too.

When CCTV was checked Gauvain was seen walking to the counter, picking up the box and walking out with it. When he was later arrested, the box was found with the seal removed at his property. There were only coppers left inside it, amounting to £3.61.

Judge Cherry McMillen asked the prosecution how much would normally be in the box and it was said that it would normally be emptied every few months with an average of £70 being collected.

When questioned, Gauvain said that he had taken all the silver coins from it and admitted to taking the charity box as he was "feeling down."

The court heard how the defendant was on benefits of £188 a week, with his rent coming to £98. He'd also said while he was being questioned that he needed money for drugs, gambling and tobacco.

Pictured: The entrance to the court.

The prosecutor told the court that with this offence Gauvain was in breach of a suspended sentence, which he was given for fraud by misrepresentation earlier in the year. On 12 March he'd tried to cash in a Social Security voucher at St Peters NatWest before claiming the voucher had not been received, even going as far as reporting the voucher missing to the Police. CCTV confirmed Gauvain had received the cash.

In sentencing, Judge McMillen said the charity box was collecting money for children living day to day with terminal cancer and said that if he was genuinely remorseful he would have saved up money from his benefits since the offence to pay the charity back.

She again reiterated that the charity was to help children with palliative care and that this theft would be viewed with: "repulsion and disapproval."

"You helped yourself and by stealing from a charity you take from the people who donate and the children who are terminally ill."

Judge McMillen further outlined his criminal record, which included drugs, theft and two frauds, one of which he had been given community service for, but had never completed and the other he was given a suspended sentence of two months which he was now in breach of.

She said: "This is a reprehensible offence. Reprehensible and incomprehensible, so it is inevitable that you must face a custodial sentence as I don't think the alternatives will work. With gambling and drugs you have lost your morale compass. Whilst the sum involved is not large, such a breach of trust and taking from a charity is a serious offence."

Gauvain was sentenced to six months in prison for the charity box theft and ordered to pay £70 in compensation to the charity. The judge also activated his suspended sentence of two months from his previous fraud offence, meaning he was given a total of eight months in prison.

Ernie's Angels was set up in memory of Ernie Backlund-Leale, who died in 2017 aged just 12. 

He had suffered from leukaemia and captured the hearts of the island when he worked through a bucket list while having palliative care.

Following his death, his mum, brother, grandparents and family friends set up the charity Ernie's Angels to provide financial support towards palliative care and funeral expenses of terminally ill children in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Pictured: The Ernie's Angels charity box at Hansen's Grab 'N' Go Sandwich Bar, which has since been securely fixed to the counter.