A Cuban man accused of stealing a cellphone was yesterday sentenced to two months at hard labour for the offence.

Allegations are that the accused, Narciso Clarke, borrowed the complainant's phone to make a call, but never returned it. A report was made to the police, and he was subsequently arrested and charged with simple larceny.

Clarke denied the allegations in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court, however. He told the court that he borrowed the phone and walked off a little distance to make a call. He said he was unable to however, as he was arrested by the police shortly after. Clarke stated the lawmen took him in for questioning because they said he looked suspicious, and, as a result, he did not get to return the phone.

Borrow a phone

The complainant, however, told the court that the accused man approached him and said he had just been released from the lock-up at the Papine Police Station and needed to borrow his phone to make a call. He said he gave the accused man the phone and went back to work nearby. He said after not seeing the accused man for some time he went searching for him, only to have persons tell him that they did see Clarke trying to sell a cellphone for $800. The complainant continued that he found Clarke in the Papine area some time later and alerted the police who accosted him.

Clarke, before being sentenced, told the court that he was born in Cuba and raised in the Cayman Islands but was brought to Jamaica in 1996. He said that since then he has had difficulties getting his Jamaican citizenship.