By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN has lost his appeal against his six-year sentence for a 2020 Grand Bahama robbery after the Court of Appeal rejected his argument that no violence or threat of violence was used during the offence.
Gregg Smith's conviction and sentence for robbery were upheld by Justices of Appeal Deborah Fraser, Gregory Hilton and Vasheist Kokaram.
Smith broke into Stephanie Doland's home in Grand Bahama on September 15, 2020. When the complainant returned home that night, she encountered the defendant on a stairway, where he claimed to be armed and demanded that she hand over her belongings. The convict then went upstairs and robbed the complainant of her phone and jewellery, placing the items in a pillowcase before fleeing the scene.
The stolen phone was later found at the convict's home.
The complainant believed the convict was armed with a gun during the incident.
Following his trial, Smith was convicted on May 2, 2024, and sentenced in September that year.
On appeal, Smith argued that his conviction was unsafe because there was no evidence at trial that violence had been used during the robbery.
The Court of Appeal rejected that argument, noting that the complainant testified the convict told her to go upstairs or he would "shoot her".
The justices also noted that the trial judge directed the jury that it could find Smith guilty of either armed robbery or robbery. The jury acquitted him of armed robbery but unanimously convicted him of robbery.
The Court of Appeal found no fault with that approach, ruling that it was proper for the trial judge to leave the lesser offence of robbery to the jury if it was not satisfied that a firearm had been used.
The court also rejected Smith's argument that there was no violence or threat of violence during the offence, citing the Penal Code's definition of robbery as stealing accompanied by actual violence or the threat of violence used to extort the stolen property.
The justices found that Smith used the threat of violence to rob the complainant and upheld both his conviction and six-year sentence.
Eurika Coccia appeared for the prosecution.
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