shelter after she was not allowed to make a phone call.

Roydell Stovell pleaded guilty yesterday in Magistrates' Court to causing $800 worth of damage to the Army's property.

Prosecutor Sgt. John Dale said a bed in the women's quarters of the shelter was set on fire around 8.20 p.m. on Saturday, destroying a set of sheets, blankets, a mattress and box springs.

When Police and the Fire Department arrived at the shelter on Marsh Lane, Pembroke staff had already evacuated the building and extinguished the fire, Sgt. Dale said.

There were no injuries. But Police arrested Stovell on the premises on suspicion of arson.

Stovell told Police she set the bed on fire using a cigarette lighter because she was angry that she was not allowed to make a phone call.

During the same interview she also admitted that a $20 wrist chain -- which she was wearing -- had been stolen from the Yankee Store two weeks earlier.

Stovell told Police she knew it was wrong to steal but that she wanted "something for decoration''.

Stovell, who has a history of arson offences, told the court she was angry because she had been put in the Salvation Army's shelter against her will after she was promised an apartment and a job.

Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis ordered that Stovell be sentenced in Supreme Court.