Christopher Thomas, WEEKEND STAR Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St Catherine man accused of damaging a door at the residence of the superintendent of works for St James, was given a suspended sentence in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Clifford Reid, 42, originally from St Catherine but currently of no fixed address, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, suspended for one year, on the charge of malicious destruction of property.

Allegations are that on January 24, about 11:30 a.m., a security guard attached to the Hawkeye security company received an alarm about an intruder at the property on Leaders Avenue in Montego Bay. On arrival, he saw Reid leaving the premises, and noticed that a section of a door to the house had been broken off.

pick ackees

The police were summoned and Reid was accosted and taken to the Barnett Street Police Station. Under caution, he reportedly said, "Me see di bottom of di door mash off and tear off already," and he was subsequently arrested and charged.

On Wednesday, Reid insisted that he had not damaged the door, and that he had only gone on the property to pick ackees from a nearby tree.

"On that day, I walked on the veranda (of the house). I had to pass the veranda to go to the ackee tree, and when I passed the veranda the alarm went off," Reid told Resident Magistrate (RM) Sheron Barnes.

"The door was rotten, the door's bottom was broken up, and I just looked in there," added Reid.

"Next time, don't look into people's place, or they will send somebody to hold on to you," RM Barnes warned Reid. "The sentence is six months, suspended for one year," she told him.

"Does that mean I'm going to jail?" asked Reid.

"It means you are going home," the magistrate answered, before Reid was eventually ushered out of the courtroom.