Drug addict Gavin Thomas, 37, of Maesteg, was refused money for fears he would use it to feed his addiction to heroin and crack cocaine before he became violent, a court heard
A grandson gripped by a debilitating drug habit threatened his grandmother before forcibly stealing £60 after she refused to give him money.
Drug user Gavin Thomas, 37, who is addicted to heroin and crack cocaine, had been staying with his grandparents at their home in Caerau, Maesteg, Wales, and continually hassled them to give him money. He asked his grandmother for £40 in cash, but two days later he demanded yet more money from her.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday (May 15) heard Thomas asked his grandmother for £60 on March 12. But when she refused, he was said to have gone close up to his grandmother’s face before putting his hand in her pocket and violently ripping it, until he gained access to the cash.
Thomas, of Brynglas Terrace, was arrested on April 6 after again attempting to coerce his elderly relatives for more cash while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. During his arrest, he said to his grandfather “Are you going to drop it Gramp?”. He later pleaded guilty to robbery, and the court heard he has 15 previous convictions including 23 offences of thefts.
In mitigation, defence barrister Hashim Salmman said his client’s life had been “gripped and ruined” by his addiction to hard drugs. Mr Salmman told the court how Thomas’ addiction stemmed from a poor choice in associates when he was younger and the use of gateway drugs. He said the defendant had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression, and is father to two teenage daughters of whom he has contact with.
Thomas was sentenced to a total of 16 months imprisonment, and an additional three weeks for a breach of a suspended sentence. He was also made subject to a restraining order preventing him from contacting his grandparents for three years. Sentencing, Judge Nicola Saffman said: “This was a domestic violence situation. You attacked your grandmother, a vulnerable woman, in her own home.”