King after they admitted drinking alcohol in a public place.

Nyasanu Aswad Wilson 19, of Pickering Lane, Warwick, and Jabari Gyast Ebbin, 20, of South Gardens, Ord Road, Paget, were near the Washington Street bus terminal when Police officers saw them drinking something out of brown paper bags.

The officers found Wilson's bag contained an open bottle of Heineken beer and Ebbin's bag contained an open can of Tennent's Super beer.

Wilson told Magistrates' Court this week that he did not open the bottle of beer but just took a sip from it after someone handed it to him.

He added that he was celebrating a friend's birthday, who had been away for several years, and said Mr. King would have done the same thing.

Mr. King denied the claim and told Wilson to speak for himself.

Ebbin apologised to the public for acting in an unruly manner.

When asked by Mr. King if he had anything else to say, Ebbin replied that he was going to be late for a job interview.

Both men said they were under the impression that it was legal to drink a beer in public, as long as it was covered.

Mr. King noted that the maximum penalty for the crime was a fine of $2,880 or six months in prison or both and asked them if he should throw the whole book at them.

Ebbin said he should "throw half a page'' before asking for as much leniency as possible.

Mr. King bound them over for two years each and warned that if they reappeared in court, they would have to answer for this offence and would be convicted and sentenced accordingly.