A North Sophia man was on Thursday ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 or spend two weeks in prison, after he pleaded guilty to a vagrancy charge.
Logger Royston Forde, 31, accepted that on February 14, at Georgetown, he was found loitering in a yard at 342 Sachi Bazaar Street, Prashad Nagar and he could not give sufficient reason why he was there.
Police Corporal Venetta Pindar, in presenting the prosecution’s case, said that at approximately 8:20hours on Monday, the owner of the bond was passing when he noticed Forde in the compound. When the owner of the bond asked him his reason for being there, Pindar said that Forde began running.
According to Pindar, it was only after the owner, who is a licensed firearm holder, drew his weapon that Forde halted. The police were then summoned to the scene and Forde was arrested and charged.
Asked by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry what he was doing in the compound, Forde calmly responded, “I de just sheltering and fall asleep.”
When the Magistrate asked Forde how he got into the yard, he said simply, “I jump over de fence.”
