Christopher Thomas, STAR Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:

A woman who said she carried an ice pick for self-preservation, got a lecture on why such a weapon was useless against deadlier arms when she appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's court on Wednesday.

Diana Thompson, of a Montego Bay address, pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon albeit that the details of her arrest were not disclosed to the court.

"What were you doing with the ice pick?" Resident Magistrate Sandria Wong-Small asked Thompson. "You picking ice, working at the ice factory or selling ice?"

for my own protection

"No, ma'am," answered Thompson, with a nonchalant look on her face.

"So why you had the ice pick?" the judge further questioned the accused woman.

"I have it for my own protection," said Thompson, who did not elaborate on her claim.

"So what would you do if a man held you up with a gun?" said Wong-Small. "A man can stay far from you and shoot you ... And any time a man 'jook' you down with a gun, you forget you had the ice pick."

"You're going to pay for the privilege of carrying an ice pick," the judge told Thompson, prior to handing down sentence.

Thompson was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine or spend 10 days behind bars for the offence.