Teens sentenced after burglary with fake gun causes victim to jump from balcony

The victim was said to be so terrified at the sight of the gun – which he did not know was fake – that he jumped from his balcony to escape. (Photo credit: Wandsworth Guardian)

Two teens will spend the next several years in jail after a burglary with a fake gun last June left their victim so terrified that he chose to jump from a balcony to escape the scene rather than risk being shot.

A report from the United Kingdom revealed that the teens, Raphael Audain-Reason and Vitor Almeida, both 18-years-old, were found guilty of aggravated burglary, although they both denied the charges. Audain-Reason was sentenced to seven and a half years, while Almeida was sentenced to six.

According to the Wandsworth Guardian, the teens were acquainted with the victim, Edward Graham, and had actually gone to visit him on June 19, the day of the burglary, as well as the day before. But when Graham asked the teens to run an errand for him, the social visit quickly turned to a terrifying event for Graham and his cousin, who was also visiting at the time.

The teens apparently left, but later returned wearing ski masks and armed with what Graham did not realize was a fake gun. They walked right into the residence because Graham had left the front door unlocked for the teens.

The teens then demanded gold from Graham.

“He recalled the men shouting, ‘Where is it? Where is the gold? Where is the money?’” Prosecutor Simon Sandford said in court last week referring to Graham.

“Fearing for his life, Mr. Graham was so frightened that he ran to the balcony of this flat and jumped,” Sandford added.

Graham survived the fall from the second floor balcony with only a broken ankle. His cousin also escaped the mayhem by climbing down a drainpipe, but he was not injured during the ordeal.

Raphael Audain-Reason (right) with his brother was sentenced to seven years for his part in the burglary. (Photo credit: Surrey Comet)

The teens were later found with stolen goods including two mobile phones, keys, a wallet, bank cards, money, a ring and two bags containing various documents, including Graham’s daughter’s birth certificate.

Throughout the trial, Simon described the teens’ behavior during the burglary like that of a bank robbery, with each teen taking on a certain “role,” such as a getaway driver, a look-out and the one actually taking the loot.

“They all have different roles,” Simon said. “But they are all involved and they are all equally guilty.”

Apparently the courts agreed.