A TikTok prankster has been given a community order and ordered to pay a fine after snatching a phone out of a woman’s hand while riding an e-bike in central London.
Mizzy, whose real name is Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, was riding a Lime bike on 15 June 2022 when he stole the £1,000 iPhone as the woman was texting, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard.
Police officers in the area pursued the teenager, who was 17 at the time, after they “noticed Mr O’Garro cycling in a way that they deemed him to be trying to get away from something”, prosecutor Amy Gault said.
He was later arrested and in April was found guilty of theft.
Sentencing the teenager, Judge Michael Oliver gave O’Garro, now 19, a 12-month community order and said he must pay £500 in compensation to the victim.
The community orders requires O’Garro to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity.
The judge said the sentence will “serve to punish you and make reparation to the community at large”.
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The court heard Ruby Hewitt was left “stressed, anxious and quite scared for my safety” after the theft on Highbury New Park in Islington, north London.
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Three Metropolitan Police officers in an unmarked police car – who did not witness the incident – became suspicious of O’Garro due to “erratic behaviour, going in and out of the road and moving on to the pavement”, PC David Clifford previously told the court.
The defendant fled the officers and threw the phone into a bush. When he was forced off the e-bike, he ran away on foot before being detained.
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O’Garro’s lawyer Keren Weekes told the court his previous time at a young offenders institution had “had a detrimental effect on his mental health” and said the TikTok star is now “working to make a positive change in society”.
O’Garro, who has a son, is undertaking two internships and a vocational qualification in creative media, she added.
Ms Weekes said O’Garro is co-leading the production of an anti-knife crime video as part of one of his internships.
O’Garro had three previous convictions at the time of the theft and had been sentenced for a separate robbery in July 2022, the court heard.
