A man who repaid a City business owner’s regular help of food, drinks and clothes by stealing merchandise worth $1 471 from him has been jailed for two months.
Noel Alexander Austin, 51, of no fixed address, told the court that he had asked the storeowner for $20 but received only $15. So he stole a bicycle, hot dog crates, packs of plastic cups, a mattress protector, boxers and panties from Bhana’s on Saturday. In court, he disputed the value of the goods.
“I am guilty of this crime, but the items ain’t worth all of that,” he said.
The District ‘A’ Traffic Court heard that the complainant closed the store on Whitepark Road at around 6 p.m. on Friday. The following morning, the warehouse manager alerted him that a cardboard box, its contents and a bicycle were missing from the storage shed.
A review of CCTV footage showed a man entering the shed at around 3:20 a.m. and removing the items.
The next day, the complainant saw a man entering the compound, recognised him as the person in the footage and called the police.
Austin began walking towards Central Police Station while the complainant followed. Upon reaching the District ‘A’ Courts complex, he jumped over the wall and entered the compound.
Police were alerted who pursued and apprehended Austin. He admitted the theft before taking officers to Hunte’s Street and handing over the box of stolen items.
The bicycle had already been sold to a man for $20, he told officers.
Apologising for his actions, Austin told the court that the store owner often helped him by giving him food, drinks and clothing. He said he had asked the owner for money that day.
“I asked for $20, and I only get $15, so later the night, I went and took the things, but those were just in the back in storage and he get back everything cause I didn’t take out nothing from the box cause I didn’t even look in it.”
Asked what he had done with the $20 he received for the bicycle, Austin responded: “I went and smoke it out.”
“You went and bit the hand that fed you and treated you well. When you come back out, make sure you go and apologise,” said Magistrate Jared Richards before ordering him to serve two months at Dodds Prison for the theft.
(JB)
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