By Farrah Johnson
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAN was placed on probation for one month after he pleaded guilty to vagrancy.
Police arrested Leroy Clarke, 30, after he could not give them a satisfactory account of why he was found on Montagu Beach around midnight on September 14.
During a hearing before Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux yesterday, he pleaded guilty and was placed on one month’s probation.
The prosecution said that morning, officers on mobile patrol observed the defendant hiding in bushes on the beach. When they approached and questioned him, he told them he was there because he had nowhere to stay. He was subsequently arrested for vagrancy. During an interview with police at a nearby station, he admitted the offence.
When given an opportunity to speak during the arraignment, Clarke told the magistrate he was “sitting on a rock with his shoes off just watching the waves” when the police approached. He said he was wearing a hoodie and had a screwdriver in his pocket, so he panicked and started telling the officers “whatever came to his head” when they questioned him. He insisted he was only there because he had lost track of time.
As a result, after placing Clarke on probation, Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux warned him if he was convicted of a similar offence within the next month, he could risk spending one month behind bars.
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