stole more than $2,000 from his employers.

Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis sentenced Amos Smith, 21, of Ewing Street, Pembroke to 150 hours of community service, based on a social inquiry report.

The report showed that the $2,600 stolen cash, which Smith originally claimed he had spent on clothes and drugs, actually went to pay off family debts.

A probation officer told the Magistrates' Court yesterday that Smith had been "too embarrassed'' to tell Police the whole story.

Smith, who worked at the Fourways Gourmet Shop, took the money in June last year from a safe which had been left open.