Christopher Thomas, STAR Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

A Montego Bay man who was arrested for the possession of 10 breadfruits that he could not properly account for was offered bail in the sum of $10,000 when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

The accused man, 44-year-old Leroy Thompson, of a Mount Salem address, is charged with unlawful possession of property.

Allegations are that on June 22 at 12:30 p.m., a police team was on patrol in Westgate Hills when they saw Thompson carrying two plastic bags. On seeing the officers, Thompson ran and the police gave chase.

The chase ended with Thompson being caught. A subsequent search of the two bags showed them containing five fully matured breadfruits.

When Thompson was asked where he got the items, he said he had received them from a woman. He offered to take the police to see the woman and they agreed.

However, when Thompson and the lawmen arrived at the location, where the woman was, she flatly denied knowing Thompson or giving him the breadfruits. He was subsequently arrested and charged.

"Where did you go to look for the breadfruits?" Resident Magistrate Sheron Barnes asked Thompson.

"Me go look it at Mount Salem and carry it down," Thompson replied.

"Where were you going with it?" asked Barnes.

"Over the Bob Marley Stadium (on Howard Cooke Boulevard)," Thompson replied.

Attorney-at-law Stacy-Ann Young, who was asked to assist the accused man, requested that he be given a chance to prove himself.

"I am asking that Thompson be given an opportunity to show himself as a man who can be trusted," said Young. "He has lived in Mount Salem for six years, and the only relative he has alive is his sister, who is ill. He is willing to submit himself to reporting conditions every day, but he doesn't have anybody who can be surety for him," Young added.

"I'm willing to offer him some bail, but it has to be with a surety: $20,000, and he has to report to the Mount Salem Police Station every Wednesday and Saturday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.," replied RM Barnes.

"He just got work at the Sumfest site," Young informed the judge.

"I will reduce it to $10,000 then. That amount is too low, but it's the best I can do," said the RM.

Thompson is slated to return to court on Wednesday, October 24.