A convicted robber who threatened to set a cold store on fire and slammed a shopkeeper with a metal teapot has been sentenced to five years behind bars.
The High Criminal Court convicted the unemployed 46-year-old Bahraini of armed robbery, theft and assault, earlier having been declared fit to stand trial by a panel of psychiatrists.
The defendant who had previously been convicted of robbery, denied assaulting the shopkeeper after he refused to give him a packet of cigarettes without paying for it.
The Isa Town cold store worker earlier told the Public Prosecution the customer had a notorious reputation for starting fights in the store and demanding to buy things on tab, but never settling debts.
“He shoved the flammable oil can in my co-worker’s face and started a fire for a few seconds. After that, my co-worker gave him the cigarettes out of fear for his safety and that of others,” he stated.
The 55-year-old Indian expatriate also added that ‘the man always brings trouble with him’ and ‘never actually pays his tab’.
In the final hearing before the verdict, a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation found that the defendant can be held responsible for his actions in a court of law, stating that he was ‘in possession of his willpower and ability to make choices’.
“Although the defendant suffers from mental and behavioural disorders due to his drug use, and was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, there is no relation between his diagnoses and his actions,” read the report.
Through the psychiatric evaluation, judges were also informed of the defendant’s troubled history, beginning in his early teens when he got into the habit of drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.
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