Seventeen year old Wayne Christopher was given three years probation yesterday for receiving a credit card stolen in the February 7 mugging of 77 year old Josie Ray.

Mrs. Ray, the wife of William (Cheese) Ray, is still in a coma at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and is not expected to recover, the court was told yesterday.

She suffered head injuries and a broken wrist after being violently mugged outside the Southampton Post Office as she picked up her mail.

Tyrone Brangman, 16, was arrested along the Southampton Railway Trail some five days after the attack and will be tried for robbery and causing grievous bodily harm in Supreme Court.

Christopher, of Adams Lane, Warwick had pleaded guilty to receiving the stolen Bank of Bermuda credit card which was taken from Mrs. Ray's purse after the robbery, but he claimed to have tried to stop the attack.

Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves requested a social inquiry report on Christopher before sentencing.

Details of the report's recommendations were not read out in court, but Mr. Greaves said that a three year probation was warranted given the circumstances.

He told Christopher that he had been lucky that he wasn't charged as an accomplice and warned the young man to stay away from bad company.

"I'm not convinced that you didn't know that these guys were going to carry out the act," he said. "I'm putting you on probation but I don't feel good about it."

Conditions of the probation order include a 10.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. curfew.