Three errant soldiers are on suspended jail sentences today after admitting in Magistrates' Court that they failed to attend military training sessions on numerous occasions in the past year.
Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner sentenced them to 30 days, suspended for two years.
Michael Coley DeShields, 19, pleaded guilty to three charges of being absent from Bermuda Regiment training sessions without reasonable excuse on a total of 35 occasions between April 2 and January 12. He also confessed to failing to obey an order to pay a regimental fine of $750 imposed at the beginning of 2007 for failing to attend other training sessions.
Dressed in a bright orange regiment jumpsuit, Mr. DeShields was serving a 10-day military jail sentence for previous dereliction of duty.
Blaming his "living arrangements", he told the court that he "couldn't make it" to training.
"I lost my job," he went on, "and was going through hard times and that's why I didn't show up."
When the magistrate asked why he hadn't approached his officers, Mr. DeShields said: "If you can't help yourself, you shouldn't let someone else help you; I wanted to get myself together first."
Receiving the same punishment were two other privates, who were charged with only one count each.
Odell Andrew Grant, 22, of Khyber Heights, Warwick pleaded guilty to missing 39 training sessions last year.
Jordan Omari Johnson, 20, of My Lord's Bay Lane, Hamilton Parish admitted missing 12 sessions between September and December.
