Witness: Pair took jewelry, left boy

JOHN BENSON and Sheakia Stubbs may have been dating and shared a son when they allegedly robbed a South Street jewelry story last year, but now they "are not on the same team," the woman's attorney said yesterday at the start of the couple's trial.

"Ms. Stubbs is guilty of choosing the wrong kind of man, but that does not make her guilty of committing a robbery," Kristin Quinn said.

Stubbs, 32, "was long gone" when Benson, 48, used a knife to slice the neck of the jewelry-store owner who chased the couple from the store on Feb. 27, 2010, Quinn said.

Benson is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, conspiracy and theft. Stubbs is charged with robbery, conspiracy and theft. Both are charged with endangering the welfare of a child for bringing along - and leaving behind - their 4-year-old son, Simir Stubbs.

Bruce Wolf, Benson's attorney, stayed clear of the facts of the case during his opening and instead asked the jurors to listen to all the testimony carefully.

Yaniv Cohen, owner of Platinum & Ice Jewelry store on South Street near 6th, later testified about the mayhem that ensued shortly after the couple and the boy were buzzed into the store.

Benson asked to see a ring for Stubbs, Cohen said, while she and the boy walked back to the front door and asked that it be buzzed back open.

Store employee Bouchaib Chakir testified that while Benson was holding a ring, he dropped it behind the counter.

When Chakir bent to pick it up Benson grabbed a case containing nine to 15 rings and ran from the store with Stubbs and the boy, he said.

After chasing them on South Street, Chakir said, Benson warned: " 'Go back or I'm going to shoot you.' "

Stubbs split down 6th Street. Chakir and Cohen continued after Benson and the boy down Rodman Street, where Benson allegedly pulled a knife and cut Cohen's neck, leaving a bloody slash from just below his left ear to beneath his chin.

Benson then fled back to South Street and got away, leaving his crying son behind, Cohen said.

"I felt bad for the child," said Cohen, who took the boy to a nearby police station before getting medical help for himself.

Crystal Stubbs, Sheakia Stubbs' mother, said that when her daughter told her on the night of the incident that she was scared because the cops had Simir, she advised:

"You need to turn yourself in for that baby."

Stubbs and Benson were arrested two days later at a Roosevelt Boulevard motel.