He was trying to play the doting father but a lack of money stood in his way.
So when Lamal Valance Whitney saw his sister had left some pieces of lumber and her tablet at the house, he decided to sell them to buy diapers for his five-month-old child.
“I did only want enough money to buy pampers and things,” he said.
He sold the 20 pieces of lumber, which were valued at $864, for $100, and he pawned the $350 Samsung tablet for a “Grantley”.
However, Whitney will be away from that child for the next six months after he was jailed for that time by the District “A” Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Whitney, 24, unemployed, of 3rd Avenue, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael, confessed he stole the pieces of lumber and the tablet, which belonged to his sister Lizieanna Mapp sometime between September 11 and October 9.
“I know I do wrong but I did going through some real hard times and I love my son,” he declared.
The many-time convicted burglar admitted that his sister, the same one from whom he had stolen the items, had previously employed him in her store despite his convictions.
However, Magistrate Douglas Frederick noted Whitney’s sister must be tired of paying his fines and bailing him out.
As he examined Whitney’s file, the magistrate noted that the thief had numerous convictions for burglary, had spent three years in jail for them, and was released and then found himself back in court. His last offence was for drugs, for which he was fined $1 500 in a month or six months in prison. That fine was unpaid.
“She must be at the end of her wits,” the magistrate said. “She gave you a little job even though you got house-breaking charges. Then she bought lumber to repair the house and you stole it from her.”
As he imposed the six-month alternative for the unpaid fine and six months for the theft, both of which will run concurrently, Magistrate Frederick told Whitney: “You say you were trying to help the baby but now you are away from it for six months.
“Reflect and change your ways. You are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Your sister is that golden goose.”
Prosecutor Station Sergeant Neville Reid said Whitney and his sister lived at the same house. She had bought some lumber to repair the house and had relocated while the repairs were being done.
She returned in October to find the lumber and her tablet missing. Her brother later admitted to police he had stolen the items. (HLE)
