HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN on the gas station’s property, said Rohan Antonio Drakes, but he wasn’t loitering and he definitely was not there to commit a crime.
“It is true I was there but I wouldn’t consider it there to commit theft,” he said in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
Drakes, 35, of York Terrace, The Pine, St Michael, had just admitted that he loitered in the yard of Shell Service Station on Tuesday and there was cause to suspect he was about to commit theft.
“I went there to use the phone booth on the other side, and when I done I went by the diesel pump and stand up. I didn’t have any intention of stealing anything,” he explained.
Magistrate Pamela Beckles fined him $500 by July 30 or six months in prison.
Prosecutor Sergeant Trenton Small said around 22:30 hours that staff at the service station saw Drakes, with a red scarf covering his face, ducking and hiding behind the pump.
A car entered the gas station and Drakes continued to hide and duck.
The driver also told staff about Drakes’ actions, and management called police.
When lawmen arrived, he was still hiding behind the pumps.
