Over a period of six weeks between May and July last year items worth nearly £20,000 were stolen from seven homes.
The two men’s crimes included breaking into a hotel room, and mugging a young woman as she walked home alone late at night.
In the Royal Court yesterday the two men behind the crime wave, Luis Carlos Pestana Goncalves (25) and Michael Dos Santos Moreira (33), were sent to prison for five years and 11 months and two years and 11 months respectively.
Each had admitted numerous charges relating to the six weeks between 21 May and 1 July, including a total of eight counts of breaking and entering between them. Goncalves will also be recommended for deportation at the end of his sentence, the court ruled.
A third man, heroin addict Carlos Eduardo Cabral Caboz (31), admitted receiving £1,500 of the stolen goods which he had tried to sell to local jewellers. He was ordered to complete 170 hours of community service and was given 12 months’ probation.
Summing up the Crown’s case at the Superior Number sentencing of the three men, Crown Advocate Robert MacRae detailed the catalogue of offences against the m. These included details of how on one occasion an 80-year-old woman had returned home to find her bedroom in disarray and many sentimental pieces of jewellery missing, including a rare watch inherited from her late mother.
Just days later, the advocate added, £12,000 worth of jewellery was taken from another home while the owners were at work.
Advocate MacRae said: ‘In the period between May 2010 and July 2010 a number of breaking and entry offences took place in the Island. These were committed by Goncalves and Moreira, either jointly or, on the majority of occasions, individually. Goncalves also faces a charge of robbery, motoring charges and charges of receiving stolen property. Caboz faces a single count of receiving stolen property. All three men are users of controlled drugs.’
Sentencing, the Deputy Bailiff, William Bailhache, said that the court had to take into account not just the monetary value of the items stolen, but also their sentimental value and the distress caused to the victims.
The court had earlier heard from the defence advocates representing the three men that each was a victim of drugs and deeply regretted their actions. The advocates pointed out that in each case the home owners had been out when the burglaries were committed. In the case of Goncalves, Advocate Sue Pearmain added that the young woman he had robbed had not been threatened or hurt.
Goncalves had earlier admitted six counts of breaking and entering, one of robbery and one of receiving a stolen bicycle. He also admitted using an uninsured vehicle and refusing to provide a sample when required to do so by the police.
Moreira had admitted two counts of breaking and entering and one of conspiring to breaking in and entering.
