By Latrishka Thomas
A 27-year-old man was ordered to pay $1,000 in the High Court yesterday for breaking into a restaurant and stealing several items, mainly sex toys and alcohol.
On March 3, Eustace Lovell admitted to breaking into Café Shattoo on Old Parham Road and stealing 29 items valued at $10,400.
On January 20, 2019, the owner of the café secured the premises and left for about two hours.
When he returned, he noticed one of the doors to the building had been pried open and, upon further inspection, he realised that a quantity of sex toys and alcoholic beverages that he had been storing for another business venture had been stolen.
He also realised that his DVR system and projector were missing.
The businessman subsequently made a report to the police but a few minutes prior, Lovell was caught red-handed by an officer who was driving in the vicinity of the Public Works Department in St John’s.
The officer observed the defendant walking suspiciously while carrying a big knapsack and a box, and upon searching his person, the adult toys and the projector, plus four bottles of Cavalier rum, were discovered.
Lovell told the officer that a Dominican man who had since migrated to Dominica had given the items to him.
Despite that, he was taken into custody along with the items which the café owner later identified as his missing property.
The young man must now pay the $1,000 fine by July 31 or spend four years in jail, Justice Ann-Marie Smith ordered.