A 46-year-old St George’s man came in for a stern warning to meet the requirements of his probation after he admitted stealing a bottle of cockspur rum.Gerald Hall was spotted by one of the cashiers at Lindo’s in Devonshire on September 25. She alerted the manager when he concealed the 750ml bottle under his clothing and left the store.The manager ran out of the store after him to see the defendant riding off on a red motorcycle. He alerted police who tracked down the defendant later in the Spanish Point area.The arresting officers found the stolen bottle of cockspur under the bike seat. Mr Hall admitted the offence to the arresting officers right away according to Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke.He told the officers that he “should’ve have just brought it”.Duty counsel Susan Moore Williams told the court that the defendant has a history of alcoholism and called for another form of intervention.But Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner charged that defendant has been “doing this foolishness for years”.“You’ve been stealing from other markets all over the place, you even have a history of stealing diapers; what you have is a history of addiction to alcohol and stealing,” he said.“You are already on probation now for breaking into a home and stealing jewellery in 2010 for which you were put on probation for three years with certain conditions.“You cannot complain that nobody has tried to help you,” he added.Mr Hall told the court that he was very sorry. “It was stupid of me, my only explanation is that I was under a lot of stress that day, I had been drinking and I wasn’t thinking properly.“I’m very sorry and I wish it would’ve never happened.”Mr Warner issued a $500 fine and ordered the defendant to present himself to court services to be reassigned to a probation officer, after it learned that his former caseworker had retired.He also granted the defendant one month to pay the fine.