restaurant burglary was handed a six-month prison sentence in Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Andrew Arorash of Swan's Bay Hill pleaded guilty to charges that he and another man broke into The Wok restaurant on Bermudiana Road, but told the court it was his partner who did all the work.

Sgt. Rex Osbourne, prosecuting, said that at 5 a.m. on September 20, an employee of The Wok heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the restaurant as he was walking nearby.

Seeing Arorash run from the scene, the employee gave chase, and eventually caught him. Arorash was handed over to investigating officers a short time later.

In a statement to Police, Arorash said he and the other man met earlier in Hamilton and planned to break into the establishment using a key. He said a window was broken to "cover-up'' the fact that someone with a key had robbed the restaurant.

Sgt. Osbourne said the $3,950 stolen from The Wok's cash register was never recovered. The sporting facility groundsman also admitted to officers he had a drug problem.

"The only thing I did was hit the window once,'' Arorash told Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis, insisting that it was the other man who was the real perpetrator.

"I was with him, but I didn't do any of that there. I only cracked the glass in the window. I was running away while he was kicking in the glass.'' Mr. Francis angrily told Arorash it didn't matter "who did what'' -- he was involved because of his knowledge of the crime and his presence during it.