Coleridge Winslow Eve, 41, of Bulkhead Drive, pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to the charge of stealing a backpack worth $32 from the International Sports Shop in Pembroke on January 3.

Crown counsel Veronica Daley told the court that at 3.15 p.m. that day an employee at the International Sport Shop saw Eve, with a beige and green backpack in his possession, when she went into the warehouse area to retrieve an item for a customer.

She said she confronted him and getting no reply, called the Police.

Eve was taken to Hamilton Police Station where he told Police that he saw the bag outside the warehouse with a broken zipper.

He further told them that he only took the bag because he thought it was trash.

"I was just being pokey, sir,'' he told the court. "Please give me a second chance?'' Senior Magistrate Will Francis ordered Eve to pay a $100 fine instead of time in prison.