Serial fare dodger warned he must pay train ticket fines or go to prison
A serial charge dodger was warned he could be sent to prison if he did not pay a fine he was assessed when he was given a suspended prison sentence earlier this year.
Charles Brohiri, 29, has more than 100 convictions for failing to pay for train tickets and failed to pay more than £3,000 worth of fares for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) train journeys between February 2024 and November last year.
Brohiri, originally from Hatfield in Hertfordshire but who has been homeless for years, was given a three-month prison sentence suspended for a year in February, but returned to Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to be assessed on his ability to pay the £3,629.60 he was ordered, as well as other fines.
District Judge Nina Tempia told Brohiri, who was not represented: “If you haven’t made any payments, you can go to jail, as I warned you last time. Do you understand that?”
Brohiri confirmed this and admitted that “for now” he had not paid any of the fines or damages he was owed.
When asked why, Brohiri told the judge it was “a bit slow” for him to be transferred from probation to help him get help, but insisted he would start paying £5 a week.
Judge Tempia said the total owed to Brohiri in compensation, fines and “perhaps victim surcharges” was £34,486.
He ordered Brohiri to start paying £5 a week from 31 July and adjourned the income inquiry until 27 August.
Judge Tempia said: “When you returned on 27 August £20 should have been paid.”
District judge Nina Tempia told Brohiri at his sentencing hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in February: “My view is, as stated in the pre-sentence report (PSR), that by committing these offenses you feel you are invincible and you see it as a form of self-sufficiency where you can get away with it.”
He also described her aggression as “arrogant and persistent”.
But he added that PSR showed he had some insight into his crimes and probation could help him.
The judge warned, “Do not be deceived, if you commit another crime and do not comply with the requirements of this decision, you will be brought to court again.”
