Mechanic Fined for Unauthorized Joyride

A Ladyville mechanic has been fined after taking a customer’s vehicle without permission and crashing it during what police say was an unauthorized joyride.  Forty-two-year-old Albert Lincoln Garnett, a handyman of the Vista Del Mar area, appeared unrepresented earlier today before a Senior Magistrate at the Belize City Magistrate’s Court. He was charged with one count of taking a motor vehicle without authority and one count of damage to property.  Garnett wasted no time in pleading guilty to both offenses. During the arraignment, he became emotional and apologized to the court, admitting that he had made a mistake. He described the vehicle owner, Samuel Gomez, as someone who had always supported him, expressing regret for breaching that trust.  The backdrop to the story indicates that on Saturday, shortly after eight thirty p.m., Ladyville Police responded to reports of a traffic accident at the Shell Gas Station compound in Ladyville. Upon arrival, officers observed a black van mounted on a barrier with visible damages.  Investigations revealed that Garnett had been behind the wheel of the 2011 black Toyota Sienna van, valued at twenty-eight thousand dollars and belonging to Gomez. Police later contacted Gomez, who reported that he had not given anyone permission to use the vehicle. He explained that the van had been left in Garnett’s care at Rustic Korner Marina while he was away in San Pedro, with instructions limited to securing the vehicle and deactivating its alarm if necessary.  Instead, Garnett took the van without authorization, which led to the crash.  For his actions, the court imposed a non-custodial sentence, fining Garnett five hundred and five dollars for each offense, totaling one thousand and ten dollars. He has until August 7, to pay the fines. In default, he faces three months’ imprisonment for each count.