He only stole a crate of empty pints but 52 year old Ely Kerr will spend six years and six months in prison because of it. Kerr pleaded guilty to breaking into the warehouse at the Chateau Caribbean on Marine Parade at around 10 last night. Hotel staff reported hearing noise coming from the warehouse and called the police who arrived to see Kerr string out of the warehouse with a sack slung over his shoulder. Inside were 13 empty quart bottles and 10 empty pints - which had a combined value of eleven dollars and fifty cents.
Today when he pleaded guilty Magistrate Margaret Mckenzie sentenced him to five years of burglary and 18 months for damaging a wooden wall and a PVC pipe in the warehouse. And why such a stiff sentence for a few pints? Well, Kerr has two previous conviction for burglary, one for attempted burglary and two for damage to property...
