A MAN who broke into a woman’s home twice by climbing through her window has been spared prison despite leaving her “terrified” as he hid in the dark in her loft for five hours listening to her.
James Alberto Lopes Veloso (28) was sentenced at the Royal Court yesterday to 240 hours of community service and given a probation order.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, told the court that on the first occasion he had taken a teddy bear toy of sentimental value.
When the victim tried to get it back, she realised that he had stuffed it down his trousers.
The second incident happened while Veloso was already on police bail, with the 28-year-old removing the fuse from some of the victim’s electronic devices.
The victim became suspicious after she could not turn on an electric heater or a TV in her home, with Veloso listening to her conversation with a friend from his hiding place in the loft.
Advocate Hallam said: “The complainant found that four fuses were missing, one from each heater, the television, the desktop computer and the laptop lead.”
Police bodyworn camera footage played in court showed Veloso pushing down on the hatch to the loft, and later coming out and being arrested.
The victim later told the States police that the “incident has terrified me as he has sat in a dark loft for about five hours without making a sound, listening to my conversation”.
Advocate James Corbett, defending, said the defendant had struggled with ADHD his whole life and that medication, side-effects and coming off ADHD medication had all had a major impact on his life.
He added that Veloso had an IQ of just 74 – putting him four points off the criteria for a learning disability.
The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, cited “the nature of the accused’s record, the timing of previous offences and the fact that past failures on non-custodial were a number of years ago” as well as “a change of attitude” as reasons for avoiding giving Veloso a jail sentence.
The Jurats sitting were Lieutenant-Bailiff Robert Christensen and Michael Entwistle.
