A BlackBerry phone thief narrowly escaped imprisonment after the phone he stole was returned to the complainant.

Charged with larceny from the person is Christopher Andrew Bryant.

The court heard that on the day of the incident, the complainant was on Hope Road in St Andrew when the accused grabbed the complainant's BlackBerry 9630 cell phone. Bryant attempted to ride off, however, the complainant held on to a bag he had, causing him to fall off his bicycle.

He was chased and held by security and the police.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey asked Bryant how many times he had got into trouble before and he responded four. She then asked him how many times he had gone to prison to which he said three.

She then told him, "what you have working for you is that she got back her phone. If you come back up here (Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court), I'm going to send you downtown (Home Circuit Court) as a habitual offender.

He was fined $15,000 or to spend six months in prison.