Broke man steals phone to fund pregnant girlfriend’s ultrasound

A Corporate Area man may miss the birth of his child after he was remanded in custody until next year February, when he is to be sentenced for robbery with aggravation.

Leon Ward, who confessed to robbing a woman of her cellphone at knifepoint, said he carried out the act in order to get money to pay for his pregnant girlfriend's ultrasound.

"My babymother was five months' [pregnant] at the time, and she did want do a ultrasound, and me never have the money. Me did under pressure," Ward told Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday.

The defendant, who admitted guilt to robbery with aggravation and unlawful wounding, said he was unemployed at the time of the robbery.

The court heard that, on October 28, Ward, armed with a knife, held up and robbed the complainant of her Samsung Galaxy cellphone. A struggle developed between both and the complainant fell on to the roadway, which resulted in her receiving injuries to her right elbow and both arms. Ward was subsequently apprehended by residents and the phone was recovered.

Cole-Montaque, having heard the allegations, decided to remand Ward in custody until sentencing next year.

"Of your own doing, you are going to be remanded in custody," she said. "Of your own doing, you will not be around to support your babymother who is pressuring you. Of your own doing, Christmas will be spent in custody."

The judge commented that it was unwise for two unemployed people to be having children. She told Ward that the pressure of finding money for an ultrasound procedure pales in comparison to the responsilities of fatherhood.

"You don't feel pressure yet! You think it's the pressure from the babymother alone? You don't feel the judicial pressure yet, and it is coming! I can't let you out at this time of the year. You're coming back in February when she's nine months, so the baby might born," Judge Cole-Montaque said.