Robber gets 39 months for Christmas carjacking

(CNS): Gerardo George Connolly (32) has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for theft in connection with a carjacking in a supermarket car park on Christmas Day in which he stabbed his victim with a screwdriver. Connolly, who was convicted earlier this yearhas a lengthy criminal record dating back to when he was a teenager.

In 2017he was sentenced to seven years for robbing a supermarket in Bodden Town, where he stole the shop owner’s car. Released last year, he committed the Christmas Day carjacking while still on parole. As a result, Connolly will have to serve any time remaining for the 2017 robbery before this latest sentence comes into effect.

During the robbery, the victim was stabbed, but was not seriously injured. However, he states in a victim statement that he was traumatized by the robbery. He had pulled into Kirk’s parking lot on Christmas Day Eve last year to take a nap, but was awakened by footsteps around 7:30 p.m. Suddenly a man opened the car door and stabbed him in the chest.

The victim then got out of the car and fought with the robber, grabbing him and the screwdriver. At that point, a woman jumped into the driver’s seat of the man’s car, and Connolly yelled at her to “give him the gun so I can shoot the boy.” The victim let go of the attacker, who got into the car, and the pair drove away.

The woman was never arrested. However, the next morning, police tracked down the car and arrested Shane William Junior McLean, who was in the car when they found it. He was later charged with handling stolen goods and tried alongside Connolly, but was acquitted.

Connolly’s DNA was found in the car and on the screwdriver used in the robbery. As a result, he was charged and subsequently found guilty. However, he continued to deny that he was responsible for the crime. He accepted that what had happened to the victim was terrible and agreed with the Crown that there was no need to call the man as a witness for cross-examination, which would allow his statements to be read out to the court and allow him to experience the ordeal of witnesses were spared.

Judge Kirsty-Ann Gunn, who presided over the case, took that into account when she sentenced him on Thursday, along with his “turbulent childhood” after his mother was sent to prison when he was 10 years old. Connolly soon fell into the criminal justice system and struggled with drug addiction. Nevertheless, there were periods in his life when he was sober and holding down jobs.

Taking into account all the circumstances, especially his 21 previous convictions, of which at least seven were unfair and included the most recent conviction for theft, the judge handed down a sentence of 39 months. That sentence will start as soon as the parole board confirms the end of the previous sentence, which could be as early as January next year or June 2026.