for breaking and entering and assault.

Joseph Lima, of Cashew City, St. David's, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to breaking and entering the Fidelity International building on Crow Lane in Pembroke and assaulting a security man on May 15, 1996.

Crown counsel Melvin Douglas said a security engineer went to the building around 12 a.m. after an alarm was sounded.

Upon spotting Lima inside the building, the man demanded to know why he was in the offices.

Lima said to the man: "I'm Joe. How do you get out of here?'' While escorting Lima out of the building, the pair became involved in a scuffle.

Throughout the struggle, Mr. Douglas said, Lima kept asking the man how to get out of the building.

Lima managed to flee the building with $4 in coins and a $275 pair of prescription glasses. He was later arrested and the glasses were recovered.

Mr. Douglas said the Fidelity employee sustained bruising to his abdomen and his kidney.

Lima, who has a previous conviction that was described as "somewhat less than shining'', was last released from prison some 13 months before the break-in.

His previous convictions include four breaking and entering offences and five stealing offences.

Lima's lawyer Richard Horseman explained that the incident was a result of his client's "alcohol problem''.

"He stumbled out of town in a drunken state and was looking for some money to get home,'' Mr. Horseman claimed. "It was not a planned break-in. It was an immature, spontaneous and ill thought-out offence.'' He added that Lima had admitted having an alcohol problem.

"It is a recognised illness and only with treatment can he overcome it,'' Mr.

Horseman said.

Lima himself told Acting Chief Justice Norma Wade: "I know I need help and while I'm incarcerated I will seek help.'' Mrs. Justice Wade told Lima she hoped he would seek help while in prison and sentenced him to two years at Westgate Correctional Facility for breaking and entering and a year for the assault.

Both sentences will run concurrently.

MAN HAS JAIL SENTENCE SUSPENDED CTS Man has jail sentence suspended An impassioned plea of hard circumstances, hunger and homelessness earned a 28-year-old Ord Road man who was convicted of possessing three rocks of crack cocaine yesterday, six months in prison suspended for 18 months.

Mark Tucker of Ord Road, Paget, pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs on November 27.

Police prosecutor Sgt. Phil Taylor said that around 11.55 that morning narcotics officers saw Tucker in what appeared to be a drugs transaction on Ord Road with another man in a truck.

When they approached, the truck driver drove off and the officers saw Tucker throw away a brown paper twist that was found to contain three brown rocks and a white powder.

Analysis revealed that the brown rocks contained 89 percent pure crack cocaine that weighed .34 grams.

The white powder tested negative for the presence of illegal drugs.

When asked if he had anything to say, Tucker said that he had fallen on hard times and was forced into dabbling in drugs because he was hungry that day and was also penniless.

If given a chance, he told Senior Magistrate Will Francis that he would straighten out his life.

Mr. Francis accepted his promise and gave him a six month jail sentence suspended for 18 months.