Police found a shoplifter cooking a steak he had just stolen from Arnold?s Market.

Mervin Wilber Smith, 55, was fined $200 in Magistrates? Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to stealing a $10 steak, belonging to Frank Arnold, on April 16.

Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said Police attended Arnold?s Market on Somerset Road where a manager told them he saw Smith taking a package of meat from a pant pocket.

Smith had already left the scene, however. Police found him at his Bob?s Valley Road, Sandys, home cooking steak and onions.

?When asked where he got it from he said he stole it from Arnold?s,? Mr. Blackman said.

Smith did pay $10 back to Arnold?s for the steak, he said, and explained he was upset because he was only paid $15 for an odd-job he did at a nearby church that would not even cover his costs.

However, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner called his story ridiculous.

?It would cost more to feed me up at Westgate,? Smith told Mr. Warner. ?I?m sure room is needed up there for other criminals.?

?They serve steaks up there too you know,? Mr. Warner replied, but Smith said he was now going to be a vegetarian.

?You can?t go into people?s stores and take their belongings just because you feel like it,? Mr. Warner said.

Smith was ordered to pay his fine immediately or spend 30 days in prison.

A 54-year-old New Jersey man was fined $1,500 in Magistrates? Court on Wednesday after he admitted importing cannabis into Bermuda in his underwear.

Keith William Ward, of Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, was found with 0.64 grams of cannabis at Bermuda International Airport on April 21.

Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said Ward arrived on a flight from Philadelphia, cleared Immigration and was waiting in line at Customs when a dog with its handler was attracted to him.

?When asked if he had any illegal substances on him, he pointed to his groin and said ?Yes?,? Mr. Blackman said. ?He said it was marijuana.?

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo told Ward to pay the fine immediately as he was due to leave the Island yesterday.

A driver who ?just left Paw Paws? was fined $1,000 and banned from driving all vehicles for 12 months after refusing to take a breathalyser test.

Roger A. Persad, 31, of Middle Road, Warwick, pleaded guilty in Magistrates? Court on Tuesday to refusing to give a sample of breath after Police believed him to be driving drunk on South Shore Road on April 1.

Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said Police saw Persad swerving across the road on his motorcycle.

?He was not maintaining a straight course,? Mr. Blackman told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner. ?He would occasionally bob in and off the centre line and on one occasion the rider almost fell.?

When Police stopped Persad his eyes were glazed and his breath smelled of alcohol, Mr. Blackman said.

?Yes, I just left Paw Paws,? Persad told Police.