A young man jailed for robbery told a court yesterday he was tired of his life of crime.

Adam Leroy King, 25, was sentenced to five and a half years after admitting three counts of robbery.

The Supreme Court heard how King and co-accused, Jahkevon Selassie Outerbridge assaulted Melvin Stevens in Shelly Bay on June 22, 2004.

Crown counsel, Paula Tyndale said King had banged on Mr. Stevens? door at about 4 a.m. demanding money. She said he eventually broke the door, entered the room, dragged Mr. Stevens by his hair outside and beat him with a baseball bat.

King, of My Lord?s Bay, Hamilton Parish, demanded money from Mr. Stevens who told him he had none.

They searched his wallet and removed $30 before beating him once again. Ms Tyndale told the court how King then tried to return to the room where Ms Cheryl Burgess was trying to keep the door closed.

She said Ms Burgess feared for her life and when King demanded money from her, she told him she had none, but pushed some gold jewellery through the keyhole.

Ms Tyndale described how King and his co-accused, who was sentenced earlier this year to five years for his participation in the crime, proceeded to catch a taxi and drive with Mr. Stevens to his house near Horseshoe Bay.

She said King beat on Mr. Stevens? mother?s door and demanded money from her, but she had none and instead gave King a diamond-encrusted pendant worth $10,000. King and 21-year-old Outerbridge, of Red Coat Lane, St. George?s, were arrested by Police a short time later with the stolen jewellery still in their possession.

Ms Tyndale said Mr. Stevens was treated in hospital for his injuries and lost eight teeth, received five stitches to his head and also suffered a sprained wrist. She added that the community needed to be protected from King whose ten-year crime spree started when he was 15.

King has 13 previous convictions for various crimes including breaking an entering, stealing, possession of controlled drugs and forgery.

King?s lawyer, Darrell Clarke, told Puisne judge Charles-Etta Simmons that King had behavioural issues and argued that he would simply return to his life of crime after being released.

Mr. Clarke said King was the perfect candidate for supervised probation. ?He?ll come out of jail no different, without the right type of programmes.?

Mrs. Justice Simmons sentenced King to five and a half years for each of the three offences to run concurrently, adding he had to enrol and complete an educational programme at Westgate.