A teenager who robbed a grieving woman while she was in Bermuda to settle her dead brother's affairs has been jailed for six months.

Magistrates' Court heard how Donovan Adams, 20, and an accomplice confronted Lily Gill on Front Street in the early hours of April 9.

They robbed her of her handbag and left her suffering a graze, according to Crown counsel Karen King.

Ms Gill, 25, was visiting Bermuda from her home in the UK to settle the affairs of her brother Martin Molinski, who drowned in March.

Mr. Molinski, a guest worker who was employed as a vinyl fabricator in Bermuda, went missing on March 17. His clothes were found the next day at Admiralty House Park in Pembroke, and his body was found at Tobacco Bay in St. George's on March 21.

According to a Police report at the time, Ms Gill was sitting with a 25-year-old male from Paget on a bench across from the Emporium Building at 3.10 a.m. when they were accosted by two men.

Adams' accomplice brandished a bladed article and the pair fled in a car after stealing Ms Gill's bag.

Police searched the area for the suspects and with the assistance of CCTV located their getaway vehicle outside the Pembroke Community Club.

Adams and his alleged accomplice, a 25-year-old man from Warwick, were arrested as a result.

Adams, from Bailey's Bay, pleaded guilty on August 3 to the attack on Ms Gill. Urging Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner to jail him yesterday, Ms King said: "This was a robbery that took place on Front Street in the hours of darkness, the complainant was a woman; she was a visitor who had only arrived a few hours before.

"She was here to finalise the affairs of her deceased brother and there was some injury caused."

Defence lawyer Charles Richardson asked the Magistrate to be lenient, saying Adams knew he would have to serve jail time, but he is young and it was his first offence which was "completely out of character".

He argued that Adams may not have known his victim was a tourist, so should not be punished more heavily than he would be for robbing a local.

But Mr. Warner responded: "Clearly if this economy depends on tourism as its lifeline, if you go around robbing tourists not that they should be treated any differently from locals that is an aggravating circumstance. A strong one."

Meting out the six-month sentence, Mr. Warner imposed a two-year probation period to follow, saying Adams needed a "short sharp shock" by way of punishment.

The time he has spent in prison since being arrested on April 9 will be knocked off the sentence.

Meanwhile Adams' alleged accomplice, Blair Richardson, 25, has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial in November.