A Pembroke teenager who snatched a woman’s handbag has been handed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to do 100 hours of community service.

At a previous appearance in Magistrates’ Court on September 8, Stanwon Swan, 17, pleaded guilty to stealing $900 worth of items belonging to Chelsea Burns in Pembroke on August 12.

The court heard that Ms Burns was followed by Swan and three other men, two of whom snatched her phone and handbag as she was sitting on a bench on Pitts Bay Road.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo this morning told Swan, whom he pointed out has no previous convictions, that he would treat the matter as a “youthful indiscretion” rather than a criminal matter.

He handed Swan a 12-month conditional discharge on the condition that he do 100 hours of community service and abide by a nightly curfew.

A second defendant in the matter, Raheem Wray, of Devonshire, pleaded guilty to stealing Ms Burns’s silver iPhone 6 when he also appeared in court on September 8.

However, the 18-year-old later changed his plea to not guilty and a trial date was today set for December 21.

Wray also appeared in court this morning for a separate matter.

The teenager had pleaded guilty to a series of traffic offences in July, including speeding, causing grievous bodily harm to a man by driving dangerously and by driving while disqualified in Devonshire on March 8. He was taken off the roads for a total of four years.

In court today, he was handed a 12-month probation order with conditions including 70 hours of community service for driving without a driver’s licence on three occasions and speeding at 93km/h.

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