A St Elizabeth man was brought to tears at the thought of spending six months in prison at hard labour for praedial larceny when he appeared in the Santa Cruz Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Rohan Gordon had to make restitution of $20,000 for stealing goats from an elderly woman after the complainant asked for mercy on his behalf.

Resident Magistrate Chester Crooks told Gordon that he would take the request of the complainant into consideration, but said he still needed to send a strong message against praedial larceny as the matter was getting out of control in the parish.

When Resident Magistrate Crooks handed down his judgement of six months in prison instead of one year, Gordon, as well as his family members, who were in court, were brought to tears.

A lawyer who was also present asked for additional extension of mercy to the man, after which RM Crooks announced that the sentence would be suspended for one year.