stealing three sets of bed sheets from Hamilton Marketplace on Sunday.

Kawesi Simba Wilson, 25, was fined $500 and told acting Senior Magistrate Edward King: "I'm very sorry for what I did, I realise it was a stupid thing and I'm embarrassed about it.'' Wilson, of Cook's Hill, said he lived with his father but they got into a dispute and he was sleeping at a friend's home.

He had to sleep on the floor without any covers, so he went to the Hamilton Marketplace and stole the bed sheets, he said.

A store clerk told an off-duty Police officer who was in the store that he saw Wilson shoving the bed spreads, worth approximately $100.77, into a red/white plastic bag on Sunday.

The pair followed Wilson into the garage before detaining him and summoning the Police.