Sunderland thief told shopkeeper 'everything is free' before walking out with basket of goods

A brazen thief who threatened to kill a Sunderland shopkeeper who chased him with a golf club after he made off with groceries has been jailed for 30 weeks.
Jess Tasanaiam.Jess Tasanaiam.
Jess Tasanaiam.

Jess Tasanaiam, 31, of Roker Baths Road, Roker, Sunderland, filled his basket and told shocked shopkeeper “everything is free” – then walked out without paying.

But the shopkeeper picked up the club, confronting him outside the Londis outlet – also known as Ken’s Convenience Store – in Lincoln Avenue, High Newport.

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Instead of handing back the £26 of goods, drug user Tasanaiam, who had been boozing the night before, threw the basket at the retailer and hit him with a plank.

He also told him he would kill him in a racially abusive tirade – and threatened a delivery driver witness, South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard.

The day before, on October 18, jobless chef Tasanaiam swiped £200 left in a cashpoint machine by a customer of an HSBC branch in Sunderland.

And at about 5.30pm on Wednesday, May 6, he attempted to break into a summer house in the grounds of Valley Side House, in Corporation Road, Sunderland.

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During the incident, he left behind a backpack containing amphetamines and also tampered with a Peugeot car.

He has now been jailed after pleading guilty to six offences which also include failing to comply with the requirements of a post-sentence supervision order.

Prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “At about 7.50am, he put groceries into a basket and then says to the gentleman behind the counter, ‘Everything is free’ and begins to walk off.

“The gentleman fears for his safety and so self-arms himself with a golf club.

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“The shopping basket is thrown at him and a plank of wood is used by the defendant. The gentleman puts up an arm to defend himself, the plank hits his left forearm.”

Mr Anderson said Tasanaiam also hurled racist abuse, adding: “He says, “I’ll kill you, you *******’. Another gentleman is making a delivery and he is told, ‘I’ll get you as well’.”

Of the Valley Side House offence, Mr Anderson said: “A man notices a backpack in the garden.

“He checks CCTV footage and can see a male walking around the back and trying door handles also trying to open car doors.

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“The gentleman looked in the backpack and found what he believed are drugs and calls the police. Tests show they are amphetamine.”

During police interview, Tasanaiam denied making racist remarks and claimed he had thrown the shopping basket in self-defence.

Neil Hodgson, defending, said Tasanaiam’s recent offending stemmed from difficulties in dealing with his mother’s death in 2017 and from not having settled accommodation.

Mr Hodgson, who admitted his client had issues with drugs, said: “He had been drinking the previous evening and had gone to the shop for food.

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“The shop owner gets the golf club. He says the man chased him out. His record looks worse than perhaps it is.”

District Judge Kathryn Meek jailed Tasanaiam for 12 weeks for racial abuse, eight weeks for attempted burglary, six weeks for failing to comply with a community order and four weeks for theft from the cashpoint, all to run consecutively.

He was given a further two weeks for interfering with a motor vehicle and four weeks for the shop theft, both to run concurrently, with no separate penalty for possession of drugs.

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