NASSAU- Two Peeping Toms have been freed from prison after the Court of Appeal quashed their excessive sentences.
Robin Jeantil, 21, and Rechard Charles, 22, of Hope Town, Abaco, invaded a couple’s privacy last month by staring through a window as they had sex.
Jeantil and Charles, who had no prior convictions, pleaded guilty to voyeurism and trespassing at their arraignment before Magistrate Ancella Evans on June 22.
The men said they were being nosy as Charles also had an intimate relationship with the woman who made the complaint. Charles said he wanted to see how the other man performed.
Magistrate Evans sentenced the men to prison for six months on the voyeurism charge and fined them $50 or 14 days for trespassing.
At the appeal Christina Galanos argued that a prison sentence was unduly severe in comparison to penalties imposed in other voyeurism cases.
In those cases, the convicts were either given fines or conditional discharges.
Galanos also complained that the magistrate imposed the maximum fine for trespassing.
On the other hand, prosecutor Stephanie Pintard argued that the sentence was not excessive as voyeurism attracts a maximum of three years’ imprisonment.
The appeal judges agreed with Galanos and ordered the men’s immediate release from prison.
The Court substituted the prison term with fines of $300 each or three months in prison.
The appeal judges said they would have ordinarily imposed a fine of $350, but they reduced the figure after taking into account the three weeks the men had spent in custody.
