Hot crop

Produce thief Oneal Sylvester Farmer was at it again appearing before the Magistrates’ Court this time for theft of five pounds of hot peppers.

The No. 122 Midway Lane, Pinelands, St Michael resident pleaded guilty to stealing the commodity, between August 14 and 15, from Caribbean Agricultural Development and Research Institute, just one year after he was convicted for stealing limes.

Farmer admitted to stealing the hot peppers from a field at Graeme Hall, Christ Church after he was unable to produce a receipt or certificate of purchase when law enforcement officers asked him to do so. Officers spoke to him when they spotted him at Nursery Drive Terminal with agricultural produce around 9 a.m.

Speaking on Farmer’s behalf attorney-at-law Mohia Ma’at told Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant his client was remorseful and was “honest and very straight forward” when he accepted liability.

Ma’at then asked that the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court convict, reprimand and discharge Farmer on the charge but Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant instead imposed a bond on the 37-year-old man.

Farmer must now be on his best behaviour for the next 12 months. Failure to do so will trigger a $1,500 forthwith fine which has an alternative of four months in prison.