Man admits cross-Island crime spree
A one-man crime wave has admitted committing 15 offences across six parishes in the space of a month.Jamiko Bean confronted female homeowners and visiting tourists during burglaries, shoplifted from stores and stole motorbikes.He even took certificates belonging to children from a nursery school and snatched frozen fish from a hotel freezer.Bean was eventually caught after what prosecutors describe as a violent struggle with police on Friday, June 15, and admitted his crime spree in court yesterday.The homeless 30-year-old is now facing the prospect of jail, having pleaded guilty to 11 crimes and asked for four other to be taken into account.Prosecutor Nicole Smith outlined the case after he entered his pleas. The first crime was a burglary at Southampton Rangers Club on May 12 when Bean stole food worth $40.Sometime between May 16 and May 23 he stole a Suzuki motorcycle from the Pembroke driveway of its owner, Jessica Araujo.On May 23, he shoplifted a bottle of Grey Goose vodka from Lindo’s Family Foods in Warwick. He ran away after the manager chased him, and the stolen bike was found at the scene with his fingerprints on it. The theft was captured on CCTV.On June 3, he entered the kitchen at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and helped himself to 15lbs of frozen fish worth $150 from the freezer. Again, he was caught on CCTV.The same day he took three bottles of liquor worth $135 from the Coco Reef Hotel on South Shore Road, Paget.Six days later, Bean burgled Southampton Post Office and stole a cash drawer with $300 in it.Three days after that, he broke into two separate guest apartments at the Sandpiper Guest House in Warwick. Ms Smith explained the Stroble family, who were visitors to the Island, were staying in one of them.Father Reuben Stroble told police he left the door open because his son, Ryan, was out for the night. However, he spotted Bean in the apartment and chased him out of it. It was later discovered that Ryan’s $700 Samsung cell phone was missing from his room.Bean also tried to break into another apartment at Sandpiper, but was foiled by a chain across the door.Three days later, he broke into the Exclusive Events rental company in Well Bottom, Warwick, and stole a cash register with $100.Overnight between June 12 and 13 he broke into Tree Tops preschool on Church Road, Southampton by smashing a glass door. He ransacked the office and stole certificates belonging to the children.On June 13, Bean stole three packets of diapers and some baby formula worth $127 from Modern Mart on South Road, Paget. Again, he was caught on CCTV.The following day, he took a cash register and $200 cash from the Elbow Beach Hotel tennis shop on South Shore Road, Paget, after smashing his way in through a glass door.One the night of June 14 he targeted two houses while the female occupants were at home on Belvedere Road, Devonshire.Shirley Inchcup told police she had been asleep on her couch when she woke up and found her front door open. She was heading back to the couch when she came face to face with Bean coming out of her bedroom.He told her to “give me your money” and then “give me your purse”. She noticed he had taken some pants and was rifling through the pockets. She threw a small statue at him and he fled with the pants and purse. She contacted family members to tell them what happened.The same night, Pamela Martin from the same road was watching a movie in her living room when Bean knocked on her door and tried to get her to let him in, claiming he was conducting a “security check”.She refused, and called the police. Next, Ms Inchcup’s sons, who were on their way to her house, saw Bean sitting on a cycle at the entrance to the road and chased him. They noted his number plate but he got away.Bean also stole a motorcycle from the home of Allanae Dowling on Horseshoe Road, Southampton, overnight between June 14 and 15.On June 15, an off-duty police officer spotted him with it in Hamilton city centre but he disappeared. Bean was again spotted standing next to the stolen cycle later that day on Harrington Sound Road, Hamilton Parish.Ms Smith said Bean tried to run off but was eventually arrested after a struggle, during which he is alleged to have assaulted Pc Timothy Evelyn and Pc David Ward and violently resisted arrest.Ms Smith asked Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner to send Bean to Supreme Court so he could be given a stiffer sentence. The maximum he could get at Magistrates’ Court is five years, but he could get up to 14 in the higher court.She noted that Bean has a criminal record going back to 1997, when he was 14 years old, for stealing pedal cycles. In 2005, he was given a six-year sentence at Supreme Court for robbery.Mr Warner refused the application, saying: “I know the Supreme Court. He would not get more than four years in the Supreme Court for these offences.”Ms Smith replied: “I do not agree with you there. I think you’re quite off the mark.”The Senior Magistrate remanded Bean into custody until July 24 when he will be sentenced at Magistrates’ Court, after reports have been prepared. Meanwhile, he will stand trial on October 3 on the allegations of assaulting police and resisting arrest.