Court reduces robber’s sentence by two years

PHILIPSBURG--The Joint Court on Thursday granted Franklin A. Illidge (19) a two-year reduction of his nine-year sentence for his involvement in several armed robberies.

Illidge was convicted by the Court of First Instance in November 2011 of having robbed a father and son on Hyena Road in Cay Hill and a security guard at Prins Willem Alexander School in St. Peters.

He also was convicted of the armed robbery of another security guard at St. Maarten Academy, the armed robbery of a Robbie's Lottery controller in Ebenezer and possession of an illegal firearm with ammunition. All these crimes were committed between May 31 and June 9, 2011.

Illidge had appealed his conviction, but the three judges of the Joint Court largely upheld the sentence.

The Appeals Court did not find it legally and convincingly proven that Illidge had been involved actively in the robbery of the St. Maarten Academy security guard. Instead, Illidge was convicted of misappropriation of a cellular phone and an amplifier that belonged to the guard.

"In the first raid, a father and son were overpowered on the street by the suspect and his co-defendants. Brute force was used to take away several belongings. Five days later, a security guard was attacked, beaten and threatened with a firearm. He was forced to take off his clothes, and several items were stolen.

"Two days later, the suspect and another man took an amplifier from a car. Again two days later, a man who was collecting money from a lottery outlet was threatened with a firearm and dragged out of his car. A female employee of the lottery office was also threatened with a firearm.

"The suspects got away in a car carrying the proceeds of two lottery offices and several items of the victim and her employer," the Appeals Court noted in summing up in the verdict.

The Appeals Court reduced Illidge's sentence from nine to seven years, taking into account the defendant's "relatively young age and the fact that he had not been convicted before."

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/26447-court-reduces-robbers-sentence-by-two-years-.html

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