(Observer)A man who has an extensive criminal record was sent to prison yesterday for stealing 18 five-gallon water bottles from a restaurant.
On July 7, Eustace Lovell of Cashew Hill scaled the wall of the Gullsea restaurant on Tanner Street and made off with the bottles worth $30 each.
At around 3:30am that day, the complainant received an alert on his cellular phone and immediately checked the CCTV camera for his business place and saw a man wearing a red shirt and a dark coloured pants jumping over a wall and onto his property.
The person was also observed throwing bottles over the wall and climbing over before making off with the stolen items.
The owner reported the matter to the police and the person in the video was later identified as Lovell.
The defendant was later apprehended and told the police he took the bottles for his personal use.
However, none of the bottles were found.
The convicted thief, who has about a dozen pages of antecedents, professed to Magistrate Conliffe Clarke that he recently obtained a job washing coolers and wanted to bottles to avoid having to fetch water as often.
He claimed that he desired to break free from his criminal past.
However, the Magistrate was not swayed by Lovell’s promises, noting that the defendant has said the same thing the last few times he came before him.
He therefore sent him to His Majesty’s Prison where he will spend the next five months.
