The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

UNDER no circumstances could causing more than $1 million damage to the new airport road be considered “reasonable”, Thomas Rigby was told moments before being sentenced yesterday to 16 months at Her Majesty’s Prison.

Chief Magistrate Joyanne Ferguson-Pratt told the 53-year-old “you must appreciate that you caused great inconvenience to the Bahamas as a whole.”

Though Rigby faced up to two years imprisonment for the charge of damage, the court considered his early guilty plea before trial, and “the court is obliged to give you a one-third discount of the maximum.”

The chief magistrate, after sentencing Rigby to 16 months, further subtracted Rigby’s six months on remand pending trial and up to yesterday, sentencing.

Thomas Alexander Rigby, of Watling Street, was charged with intentionally damaging 8,700 feet of surface material valued at $1,211,396.67, the property of the Bahamas government, between July 6 and July 12.

He pleaded not guilty on July 18 and was denied bail after the prosecution objected in the best interest of the public.

On his return to court on August 8, ahead of his September 16 trial, Rigby pleaded guilty to the charge and said he was aware that what he did was wrong and that he caused embarrassment for the government.

On August 22, prosecutor Anthony Delaney and Rigby’s lawyer, Dr Glendon Rolle, made submissions to the court concerning sentencing.

Mr Rolle, in mitigation, said Rigby was a heavy equipment operator who had been married for 15 years and had two children.

He said while his client was not unblemished, with convictions for drug possession in 2008, Rigby was a community-minded individual who did his part to help out.

The lawyer said his client’s faith in God had been renewed and strengthened from an incident he is “quite remorseful for.”

He said Rigby, a diabetic and hypertensive man, had suffered stress over the past few months having been labouring on a job and struggling to provide for his family even though he went unpaid for sometime.

The attorney told the court the company Rigby was employed with had never paid any National Insurance for him over the past three years.

As for the damage caused to the roadway, Mr Rolle submitted that constructions of that magnitude had insurance to cover such damage, but in the event it did not, his client would not ever in his lifetime be able to pay it back.

Prosecutor Delaney told the court that it had to consider the extent of the damage done and the danger of Rigby’s actions.

He told the court that in his record of interview, Rigby told police he drove his car to John F Kennedy Drive, got on a tractor and then let it go unmanned.

While accepting that Rigby pleaded guilty at the earliest convenience, he referenced a judgment from the Court of Appeal that one-third of a sentence should be taken from his term on that basis.

After a series of adjournments, the Chief Magistrate yesterday handed down her 16 months sentence that would also consider Rigby’s time spent on remand.

“The court further orders that the defendant is to be at the disposal of the Department of Rehabilitative Services for two years. I would respectfully urge the department to use the skills of this defendant, a heavy duty operator,” the court added.

Before giving Rigby a chance to speak, Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt had strong words for the convict.

“At this stage of your life, I would expect for you to know better. And if you know better, you should do better,” she said.

“Taking out your grievance on the people of the Bahamas is unacceptable,” she added.

The chief magistrate further expressed her hope that he use the time in prison to make a turnaround in his “disposition on life” and use the time of community service to pay the country back for his actions.

Failure to do so will land him an extra seven months in jail, she added.

Before being escorted away to a cellblock in the Nassau Street Complex, Rigby reiterated his apology to the court, government and the people of the Bahamas for his actions.

Outside of court, Rigby’s lawyer, Dr Glendon Rolle, said that the sentence by the court was a reasonable one considering the circumstances and seriousness of his client’s actions.

“Today’s actually a sign of the principle of justice and mercy,” he said.