WESTERN BUREAU:

A Montego Bay youth who damaged another man's watch and gold chain during a robbery attempt was lucky to get a suspended sentence in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court.

Unemployed baker Mario Brown, 18, had previously pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob and malicious destruction of property when he appeared before the court on March 8.

The charges stem from an incident on February 28, when Brown asked the complainant, Glen Jackson, to give him money. When the request was not fulfilled, Brown pushed his hand into Jackson's pocket and a fight ensued, in which Jackson's watch and gold chain were damaged.

On Tuesday, Resident Magistrate Vivienne Harris expressed dismay at Brown's criminal record, which indicated that he had several robbery charges since he was 15. She also noted that as with the current charges, Brown's past scrapes with the law were due to bad influences.

"The friends who inveigled you to do what you did, any of them came and told you they would spend some of the time in custody with you?" the judge asked Brown.

"No, Miss," Brown meekly replied.

"Why don't you learn? What is the lesson from this? You're not learning, so eventually you're going to end up somewhere you don't want to be," Harris said sharply. "You have a skill aside from robbing?"

"Yes, baking," Brown admitted.

"So why are you not baking? You had a job, and you left the job because the pay was too low, so how are you going to get a job if you don't have a skill?" Harris demanded, referencing Brown's report.

Meanwhile, Brown's grandfather was on hand to pay $1,900, the cost of damages to the complainant's jewellery. As a result, Brown was admonished and discharged for the malicious destruction charge.

On the assault charge, he was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a two-year supervision order.

"This is your opportunity to make new friends, get rid of the old ones, and go back to baking," Harris admonished Brown.