knifepoint last year, was jailed on Friday for seven years.

Marvin Woolridge apologised to the court for the February, 1993 Railway Trail robbery in which he held a knife to a man's throat.

"It was a spur of the moment act,'' he told Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Meerabux.

Although he said he offered no excuse for his act, Woolridge indicated deep frustration over being denied jobs because of his criminal record.

Just before robbing the elderly couple of $500, he said he'd been unable to provide for his son.

But Mr. Justice Meerabux said robbery with a knife was a very serious offence requiring severe punishment.

"The people of Bermuda must be able to live in their homes and walk their streets and Railway Trails free from menace,'' he said. "They must be able to feel safe that their belongings are safe from being taken from them.'' Mr. Justice Meerabux noted Woolridge had "allegedly'' threatened violence during the robbery -- an allegation strongly denied by Woolridge and his lawyer Mr. Archie Warner.

The Crown had said Woolridge had grabbed 64-year-old Ian MacKenzie by the shirt, held a knife to his throat and demanded the couple's wallets. When Barbara MacKenzie began to flee, Woolridge told her to come back or her husband would die.

Crown counsel Mr. Khamisi Tokunbo argued Woolridge should be jailed for ten years. The crime, he said, had been committed while Woolridge was on probation for a 1991 handbag snatch, also against a visitor.

Since 1992, Woolridge's criminal file had shown a patttern that visitors were "his specialty''.

"He posses a major threat to every member of society because he's attacking a major economic lifeline of the country by selecting tourists as victims,'' Mr.

Takunbo said.

"This court must impose a sentence which surely and properly reflects this society's disapproval and to punish the defendant and deter any other person from embarking on such a activity.

The fact a social inquiry report on Woolridge said he was under financial and domestic stress at the time of the offence was not a legitimate excuse for robbery.

Mr. Takunbo argued that Woolridge's guilty plea did not even count in favour of a reduced sentence.

He said the plea was entered at the last opportunity for trial, after the Crown had already flown in its witnesses.

Other aggravating factors listed by Mr. Takunbo included his victims' being diagnosed as suffering from acute anxiety since the crime.

Mr. Warner referred to the social inquiry report to say that the crime was considered a mistake by Woolridge, and one he was suffering remorse for "over and over again''.

Woolridge had admitted the offence after his arrest and helped Police in their investigation.

Woolridge, Mr. Warner argued, had been consumed by the frustration of not being able to support his son.

"And on the spur of the moment, this opportunity created itself and he decided to take act,'' he said.

After the robbery, Woolridge took his child to buy groceries.

Mr. Warner said Woolridge's guilty plea had spared the court time and expense.

With 33 witnesses, this was easily a three to four week trial.

He also rejected Mr. Tokunbo's assertion that Mrs. MacKenzie's acute anxiety after the crime was an aggravating factor in the case.

"It is in the very nature of robbery that there is always trauma,'' he said.

Before sentence was passed, Woolridge also told Mr. Justice Meerabux that he was sorry for the trauma and inconvenience he caused the MacKenzies. He recognised his 1992 handbag snatch conviction but rejected Mr. Takunbo's assertion that he was "on a trend to attack tourists''.

The Railway Trail crime, he said, was "not in my nature''.