Magistrate Linda Virgill sentenced a church bandit to more than 50 years in Her Majesty’s Prison yesterday after he pleaded guilty to over 30 counts of stealing from various churches, beauty supply stores, nurseries and pre-schools.
Magistrate Virgill also sent a strong message to Keith Nixon, 31, during the court proceedings that crime does not pay.
She sentenced the Garden Hills resident to an 18-month prison sentence for each of the 35 counts of shop and home breaking. Some of those sentences will run concurrently and some consecutively.
Along with the 18-month prison terms for the various counts of stealing, Magistrate Virgill ordered Nixon to pay a $1,000 fine for each count or an additional 12 months will be added on to each of the 34 counts.
Nixon also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine.
He was also charged with one count of armed robbery and one count of attempted burglary, but was not required to enter a plea.
According to court documents, the spate of home evasions and church break-ins started in March 2005. Nixon was charged with 21 church break-ins, five home burglaries and five shop burglaries, including two beauty supply stores, a television repair store, a hardware store and a heavy equipment store.
He was also charged with breaking and entering the Adventure Learning Centre on two separate occasions, Guiding Hands Nursery School and Revere Academy School.
All of the break-ins occurred in Garden Hills, South Beach, Soldier Road and Carmichael Road, according to the Magistrate.
Police said Nixon was arrested on Thursday for possession of one gram of cocaine.
During his incarceration, police reportedly discovered that Nixon was responsible for many of the church burglaries that occurred in southern New Providence over the last three months.
Prosecutor Inspector Ercell Dorsette told the Magistrate that Nixon had admitted to the police that he was responsible for the break-ins in those areas.
Among the churches Nixon pleaded guilty to robbing are: Bahamas Christian Fellowship Church; Golden Gates Church of Christ; Golden Gates Assembly, Southwest Cathedral Church of God; Trinity Baptist Church; New Providence Seventh Day Adventist Church; New Covenant Baptist Church; Zion South Beach; and Church of God of Prophecy on Blue Hill Road.
During the break-ins, Nixon stole various items, including cash, electronics, food items and church equipment, according to court documents.
Court records indicate that cash stolen from the establishments ranged from $50 to $3,000.
He also said in court that he sold the goods to unknown persons for little money.
Nixon told the Magistrate that at one point he stole two laptop computers from a residence in Garden Hills and sold both of them for only $250.
Magistrate Virgill told Nixon that proper justice would have taken place if all of the persons who aided him by purchasing his stolen goods were arraigned for purchasing stolen products, but unfortunately no one was arrested for those crimes.
She said his earthly punishment for his crimes will be the long prison sentences, but advised the convicted burglar to seek forgiveness from above for wreacking havoc on the lives of others and to God’s house.
“May God have mercy on you,” Magistrate Virgill told Nixon.
When asked by the Magistrate what he was thinking or whether he was afraid when he stole from the church, Nixon responded, “I was afraid, but honestly, I was not thinking.”
Before handing down the sentences, Magistrate Virgill ordered the prosecutor to check to see whether Nixon had been convicted in the past of any other crime.
The search revealed that he was arrested in 2003 for stealing and house breaking.
During that time he spent 18 months in prison for house breaking and 14 months for stealing, which ran concurrently, according to the prosecutor.
Magistrate Virgill allowed Nixon to address the court before his sentencing.
During that time, he begged her to make sure that he receives help while incarcerated because he has been a frequent drug user for the past 10 years.
He claimed that when he was sentenced in 2003 he did not receive any help for his condition and therefore returned to the same old ways when he was released.
Magistrate Virgill told Nixon that the length of time in which he will be in prison will allow him adequate time to change his life and receive treatment.
She said that officials from the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre will assist in Nixon’s rehabilitation process.
Nixon is expected to return to court in June to face the two other counts in which he was not required to plead.
Magistrate Virgill told the Inspector Dorsette to seek a voluntary bill of indictment from the Attorney General’s Office so that the matter can be fast tracked.
Nixon is the father of two girls, ages six and eight, and is said to be a self-employed carpenter.
In another case of burglary involving churches, a 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to several counts of burglary after he invaded several churches, homes and schools.
Joshua Jarrett broke into seven churches between October 2004 and May 24, 2005, according to court documents.
Those churches included: St. Margaret’s Church; Coke Methodist Church; Pentecostal Temple Church in God and Christ; Park Gate Seventh Day Adventist Church; The Church of God of Prophecy on Carmichael Road; and Oasis of Love Ministry located Faith Avenue North.
Jarett also burglarized Andy Gar Pre-School on two occasions; and Kids in Action Pre School and three homes, according to court documents.
He was sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison for his crimes.
Jarett appeared before Magistrate Marilyn Meeres.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
