A homeless man received a suspended sentence from Magistrates' Court yesterday after threatening a store owner with an oar.

Shannon Looby, 28, pleaded guilty to using an offensive weapon, using threatening language, using a threatening weapon and using threatening behaviour.

Crown counsel Charmaine Smith told the court that Looby confronted the owner of the Happy Valley Mini Mart on Happy Valley Road, Pembroke with an oar on October 22.

Looby fell out with the owner of the store after being suspected of shoplifting and was sent a letter barring him from the premises.

The owner pushed the panic button for the Police but Looby fled the scene, only to return the next day waving a palm tree branch and shouting at the proprietor again.

The owner pushed the panic button again and Looby exited the store after being confronted by a customer, but stayed outside waving the branch and yelling.

Police arrived and he was cautioned and arrested.

When asked why he had committed the offence, Looby said he did not like the way the owner of the store dealt with him.

Senior Magistrate William Francis sentenced Looby to six months for each count but suspended the whole sentence for 18 months and warned him to stay away from the owner's shop in the future.

TRAFFIC FINES TOP $3,000 CTS Traffic fines top $3,000 Unpaid traffic fines cost a St. George's man more than $3,000 yesterday.

Damon Ernest Smith, 22, of Anchorage View Road, pleaded guilty to 11 traffic violations, some dating as far back as 1996.

Crown counsel Charmaine Smith told the court that on November 26, 1996 he pleaded guilty to riding an unlicensed cycle and was fined $200. On September 3, 1997, he pleaded guilty to towing a passenger on a cycle who was not wearing a helmet and was fined $100.

On November 21, 1998, he was fined $400 for refusing to take a breathalyser test; $300 for riding an uninsured cycle; $200 for driving without a licence; and $400 for riding an unregistered cycle.

On January 2, 1999 he was fined $300 for speeding and $100 for no licence. On January 29, he was fined $240 for speeding in a car at 59 kilometres-per-hour; $750 for driving an unlicensed car; and $300 for driving an uninsured car for a total of $3,290.

Smith was given a year to pay off his debt.

HAMILTON YOUTH BUSTED FOR $1,900 CTS Hamilton youth busted for $1,900 A Hamilton youth will have to pay a $1,900 fine for possession of drugs, including crack cocaine.

Police discovered Burnell Clarke Simmons had the drugs when they stopped a motorbike on which he was a passenger at 5 a.m. on Dundonald Street on June 26.

Junior Crown counsel Veronica Daley told Magistrates' Court that Simmons, 19, "was nervous, tried to obscure his left hand, and tried to walk away from the scene''. When an officer asked him what he had in his hand, Simmons showed them a brown paper twist containing five rocks of crack cocaine and a plastic twist containing cannabis.

Mrs. Daley said when Simmons, of Brunswick Street, was told he was under arrest, he said: "Come on, give me a break.'' At Hamilton Police Station, Simmons was found to have a foil wrap containing cannabis resin. Analysis showed the rocks weighed 1.36 grammes and were 71 percent freebase cocaine and the cannabis weighed less than a gramme.

Simmons -- who pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing cocaine, cannabis, and cannabis resin -- was fined by Magistrate Archibald Warner a total of $1,900 with the threat of up to 90 days imprisonment for non-payment.