Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A man who, along with two female teenagers, masterminded the kidnapping of two female life insurance agents and robbed them of their motor cars, credit cards and other items, was yesterday sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.

Former teacher, 36-year-old Steve McCalla, of Bellfield district, St. Catherine, who defended himself at his trial in the Home Circuit Court, was convicted in December last year of two counts of robbery with aggravation.

Mrs. Justice Almarie Sinclair-Haynes sentenced McCalla yesterday to 10 years' imprisonment on each count. The sentences are to run concurrently, so he will serve 10 years.

The judge gave McCalla a new Bible and advised him to amend his ways.

The Crown, represented by Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, and Crown Counsel, Claudette Thompson, led evidence that, in March 2006, McCalla, with the assistance of the two female teenagers, telephoned two Life of Jamaica insurance agents telling them they wanted to purchase insurance policies.

Blindfolded

When the women turned up at an apartment at Seymour Avenue, New Kingston, at different times on March 14, 2006, they were blindfolded, tied up in the apartment and robbed of their motor cars, debit cards, credit cards and other items.

The motor cars were never recovered and $20,000 was withdrawn from one of the credit cards. One of the complainants said McCalla attempted to pour liquid into her mouth.

Intensive investigations by the police led to the arrest of McCalla, who committed the acts within three months of his release from prison after serving six years for a similar offence.

He had been convicted of administering a stupefying drug on Beverly Lopez, who was at the time the president of the Jamaica Exporters' Association, at a hotel room, in St. Andrew. McCalla had lured her there on the pretext that he was from the British Broadcasting Corporation and wanted to interview her.

The prosecution presented to the jury a tape from an automated banking machine, which showed McCalla withdrawing money from one of the complainants' bank accounts.

The two female teenagers were charged jointly with McCalla, but the charges against them were dropped and they testified for the prosecution.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com