Linstead taxi operator gets year in prison over stolen utility copper wire

On Friday, the St Catherine Parish Court sent Dwayne Jones, a motor taxi operator from Linstead, to prison for 12 months after he was found guilty of stealing copper cabling that belonged to a utility company.

Acting Parish Court Judge Janelle Nelson-Gayle handed down the punishment.

Having studied the case file and a social enquiry report, she indicated that only a term of imprisonment would do.

The Crown’s version is that at about 2:35 a.m. on 18 August 2025, officers on mobile patrol along the Linstead Bypass in the parish came upon a private motor car pulled up beside the road with its engine still turning over.

The team moved in and, according to the account before the court, located Jones in the immediate area.

A search of the automobile is said to have turned up a batch of copper conductor stowed in the trunk.

Detectives also maintain that once the metal was uncovered, Jones moved to grease the palms of the policemen on the scene.

He was first taken in and accused of unlawful possession of property.

The indictment was later switched to larceny when a complainant’s statement placed the recovered wire with the utility firm’s equipment.

The sentencing hearing was further told that Jones had already been before the courts for comparable wrongdoing.