Homeless man sentenced after stealing pears

A homeless man who confessed to stealing three pears from the premises of the Gloriana Hotel in Montego Bay, St James, is to be sentenced in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court on October 15.

Frederick Reid, of no fixed address, was taken into police custody last Wednesday. He pleaded guilty with explanation to praedial larceny (theft of growing crops) and possession of two weapons – a knife and a machete.

The court was told that on September 16, Reid was taken into police custody after he was caught removing the pears from a tree on the hotel’s compound.

“I actually didn’t steal them (pears), I’m a hunter in the bush, and I saw them rotting on the ground, and also ate two of them. I didn’t know it was so unlawful,” Reid told presiding magistrate Carolyn Tie. “I’m known to carry the machete and the knife, and I’m not that dangerous, they are for personal use.”

“If somebody has their tree, you can’t go and pick up anything, whether it’s on the ground or not,” RM Tie scolded the defendant. “Where is your family?”

“My family is in St Catherine, but they are away, they are in the United States. I’m a street person, and I sleep in different places at times. I have been in custody 16 days,” said Reid.

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