Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

Four men charged with the theft of 20 bags of oranges were sentenced in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday.

Anthony Buchanan, Dwayne Coburn, Junior Wright and Lester Davis, all from Linstead, St Catherine, were sentenced for praedial larceny arising from an incident in which the oranges were found in a vehicle in which they were travelling.

Wright and Coburn were sentenced to two years' hard labour; Davis was fined $80,000 or 12 months and Buchanan was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 12 months.

The Crown led evidence that on October 5, last year, about 2 p.m., members of the Island Special Constabulary Force were on duty in Redwood district. A Toyota Town Ace driven by Davis was stopped and during a search, 20 bags of oranges valued at $30,000 were discovered.

fruits identified

The fruits were later identified to be stolen from Trade Winds Distributors. The men failed to satisfy the police as to how they came by the oranges.

Further investigation resulted in them being charged with praedial larceny by Special Corporal Hubert Bruff. The men were sentenced by Resident Magistrate Simone Wolfe-Reece.