A man has been fined for snatching three gold chains worth $1,030 from his ex-girlfriend's neck in a dispute over money.

Victim Lisa Palmer told Magistrates' Court that Saki Tuzo sold the necklaces, which had emotional value attached to them.

"At first when this incident took place I was not looking to press charges or come to court. All I wanted was my belongings back. They were very sentimental to me, my mother gave me one and she's now dead, and my father gave me one and he's no longer on the Island, but Mr. Tuzo sold those chains because he doesn't have a job. I do not owe him any money and I can't get my jewellery back because he's now sold that," she complained.

Tuzo, 21, of Boundary Terrace, Devonshire, pleaded guilty to unlawful assault in relation to the matter. Crown Counsel Robert Welling told the court the incident happened at the Mr. Chicken fast food restaurant, Heron Bay Plaza, Southampton, on November 17 last year. He explained words were exchanged between Tuzo and Ms Palmer, from Warwick, about money she allegedly owed him.

"No proceedings in this court will ever get to the bottom of who owes who what money but it's clear, and the prosecution accepts, that Mr. Tuzo believed he was owed money and when it was clear he was not going to receive that money he reacted by snatching the chains from around the neck of Lisa Palmer," explained Mr. Welling.

Tuzo told Police in a subsequent interview that he took the jewellery as insurance, and Ms Palmer would get it back when he got his money. Mr. Welling described the chains as 24 carat gold chain with an 18 carat Jesus pendant, an 18 carat chain with a 14 carat pendant with Chinese writing and a chain with a small circular diamond in gold casing.

Addressing the court, Tuzo apologised for taking the jewellery but complained that Mr. Welling had asked Acting Magistrate Shade Subair to consider ordering him to pay compensation to his victim when he considered that she still owed him money.

Ms Subair replied: "That's something you could have taken up in the civil courts if you had not proceeded to an assault."

She fined him $300 and ordered him to pay Ms Palmer $1,030 in reparation for the loss of the chains, with a 130 day prison sentence to be served if he fails to pay.