Eighteen months' imprisonment was the sentence handed down in The Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday to a man who damaged a bus windscreen after he was put off for refusing to pay his bus fare.

Convicted on a charge of malicious destruction of property is Ricardo Anderson of a Corporate Area address.

"Mi no have nothing, is a trade me just start learn," Anderson replied when he was asked about making restitution to the complainant.

The bus driver told the court that on the day of the incident, the defendant boarded the bus, and asked if he could travel without paying the fare but the driver refused.

The driver then stopped the bus, and asked the defendant to exit.

Shortly afterwards, the bus drove away but did not get far before the back windscreen was smashed with a stone thrown by the defendant. He then ran away.

The complainant told the court that one passenger suffered head injuries following the attack.

The defendant told the court that he offered the driver $50 but he did not accept it.

He was later accosted in Half-Way-Tree after the complainant pointed him out to the police.