A 63-year-old farmer has been bonded for a year, after admitting to entering his friend’s farm at 4 a.m., claiming he went to look for pigs.
Ashford Nero pleaded guilty before Magistrate Bertie Pompey at the Colonarie Magistrate’s Court sitting at Georgetown to a charge that on Nov. 24, 2023, at Sandy Bay, he entered upon the premises of Keith Baptiste, of London, to wit his farmlands to commit an offence to wit, theft.
Prosecutor Corporal of Police Delando Charles told the court that people repeatedly steal from Baptiste’s farm.
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About 9 p.m. on Nov. 23, the 68-year-old virtual complainant sent his nephew to secure his farm where he cultivates mainly plantain.
The next day, about 12:05 a.m., the nephew informed Baptiste that he had seen the defendant on the farmlands, barebacked, with a flashlight and cutlass and he was about to cut a bunch of the plantain.
The nephew shone the flashlight on the defendant, who ran.
In mitigation, Nero told the court that he had pigs that had gotten away so he went to look for them.
“At nine in the night?” the magistrate said.
“No, about four in the morning,” the defendant responded.
“I don’t believe you,” Pompey said, adding, “And why you ran?”
Nero told the court that he went to look for his pigs.
If Nero breaches the bond, he must pay EC$800 forthwith or spend four months in prison