A man who tried to climb a wall to escape arrest after he was caught rummaging around in a car was yesterday fined $400.

Dean Anthony O?Brian, 43, of Jones Village Lane, Warwick pleaded guilty in Magistrates? Court to attempting to steal an unknown amount of money from a parked car in Southampton on April 24.

Crown counsel Nicole Smith said a blue Opel car was parked outside a Cross Bay Road, Southampton home when the owner noticed his car?s interior light was lit.

?Upon a closer inspection, he noticed the defendant leaning forward in the front seat,? Ms Smith said.

When the owner asked O?Brian what he was doing in his car, O?Brian replied that he was looking for the car that hit his niece.

The owner said he tried to place O?Brian under citizen?s arrest and contacted the Police.

O?Brian said he needed to use the bathroom, ran away from the car and tried to scale a tall wall nearby.

The car owner stopped O?Brian when an off-duty Police Officer arrived at the location .

?I?m hopeless,? O?Brian said after Police had taken hold of him. ?I was looking for money.?

O?Brian claimed he had been a Government employee at Southside, St. David?s for the last six months and told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner he was only ?passing through? the car-owner?s yard.

Mr. Warner ordered him to pay his fine by the end of the day or spend 40 days in prison.

?You pay today not Friday, because you think you can come in here and lie to me,? Mr. Warner said.