A 19-year-old was spared a further spell behind bars after a psychiatrist diagnosed him with a psychotic disorder as a result of serving a month on remand.

Darren Anglin, of Alexandra Road, Devonshire was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for three years, after pleading guilty to robbing Hannah Doig of her handbag in the Docksiders bar in Pembroke on Saturday, February 12.

In the Supreme Court yesterday, Crown counsel Shakira Dill asked for an immediate custodial sentence. However, Anglin's lawyer Craig Attridge showed the judge a letter from a psychiatrist which said Anglin had a limited intelligence and was seriously psychologically disturbed while on remand from February 15 to March 18.

"Mr. Anglin's intelligence quotient is borderline of learning disability," Mr. Attridge said. "He stopped eating while at prison resulting in considerable weight loss which continued subsequent to release. He continued to hear voices and engage in paranoid behaviour. Dr. Price considered him suffering from paranoid delusions and was diagnosed with a psychotic disorder as a result. Dr. Price stated should he spend any more time at Westgate there was the potential for suicide attempts."

"My client is a young man who is extremely easily led," Mr. Attridge said.

Anglin's probation officer Frederick York testified Anglin was neither frequenting his previous haunts, like the bus terminal in Hamilton, nor fraternising with his old friends since his release from prison.

On the night of the robbery, Ms Dill said Anglin's victim had placed her handbag on a stool while she was socialising at Docksiders, but saw Anglin shoving something into his jacket and turned around.

"That's my bag!" Ms Doig shouted, however, Anglin ran off.

Ms Doig grabbed the back of his jacket but she was struck in the course of a struggle.

Anglin ran past several Police on King Street and was arrested on Reid Street.

"I got it from a white woman at Docksiders," Anglin told Police under caution. "I saw her purse on a chair and took it."

Ms Dill said Anglin was sentenced to three years probation in November 2004 for stealing.

And he was involved on a fight on Queen Street in Hamilton on February 3, 2005, nine days before the robbery.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley said it was clear that the offence of robbery ordinarily requires an immediate prison sentence. However, he said this case of robbery fell at the lowest end of the scale as it was not premeditated.

"The next consideration is whether or not the public would be better protected by being incarcerated beyond the four weeks already served, or whether it would be better protected by having him continue on probation," Mr. Justice Kawaley said.

He said Anglin was clearly extremely traumatised by prison.

"There is a risk he could be seriously disturbed if incarcerated," he said. "There is also a risk of such a vulnerable person becoming more permanently mentally in-stable would be a greater risk to the public after his release."