with traffic cones after leaving a nightclub was fined $150 in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Anthony Keith Dix, 24, of the Princess Hotel staff quarters in Pembroke, was fined a further $400 for charges related to a brawl in a nightclub on a separate night.

Acting Senior Magistrate the Wor. John Judge said Dix might have been treated more harshly were he not scheduled to leave the Island on Thursday.

The waiter's work permit has expired and he is returning to the United Kingdom, the court was told.

At 2.30 a.m. on March 12, a taxi driver saw Dix release four of the six ropes securing the former Marine and Ports vessel Corona from its berth off Front Street, Police prosecutor Sgt. Peter Giles told the court.

Dix then walked to Number 1 Shed, picked up eight traffic cones, and "placed them across the width of the road, making it look as though the road was closed,'' Sgt. Giles added.

The taxi driver called Police, who arrested Dix nearby on Pitts Bay Road. Sgt.

Giles noted that Dix was seen leaving the area of a Front Street nightclub.

"I expect that alcohol had something to do with these matters,'' he said.

Dix pleaded guilty to needlessly attempting to remove a boat from her moorings without the owner's consent and preventing the public from having access to part of Front Street.

Mr. Judge fined him $150 on the first charge and gave a conditional discharge on the second.

The offence could have been much more serious, Mr. Judge said. "The boat could have gone and drifted onto the rocks and been damaged,'' he said. "All sorts of things could have happened.'' Corona is now owned by Gringley Construction Company and has been used for offshore work on the Tynes Bay incinerator project.

The court also heard that at 10.30 p.m. on May 21, Dix was in a fight at the Coconut Rock restaurant and bar on Reid Street in Pembroke.

Security there separated Dix and the other man, but when they released Dix, "he was seen to throw a beer bottle against the restaurant wall,'' Sgt. Giles said.

A piece of glass from the bottle became embedded in the leg of another patron, Karen White, who required three stitches in hospital.

Security grabbed Dix again and a fight resumed. An off-duty Police officer, P.c. Paul Wormall, then stepped forward, Sgt. Giles said. "The accused turned and threw a series of punches at the officer, striking him in the mouth.'' Dix, who was intoxicated, was eventually restrained and arrested.

He pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and assault causing bodily harm and was fined $200 on each count.

Duty counsel Ms Elizabeth Christopher said the incident arose out of a grudge another man had against Dix. "He apologises for any injury caused to anybody, especially Ms White,'' she said.

Dix was not aware the man he struck was a Police officer, she added.