By Tashieka Mair, Star Writer

western bureau:

Kerrick Scott, 32, who stole a wallet with $22,000 from a senior citizen, who was a passenger on a taxi in which he was travelling, was given six months prison time despite his promise to repay the money.

"Beg you a chance, Sar, cause mi willing fi pay back di money," he told RM Wilson Smith when he was brought before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court, on Wednesday.

Scott told police on the day of his arrest that he had only taken $1,500 from the complainant. However in court, he told the RM that it was $13,000.

During his first court appearance, he told RM Smith that he had used the money to cover medical expenses for his sick daughter. He has two previous convictions for similar offences in 1995 and 1999.

pulling on wallet

On August 4, Scott boarded a taxi in which the complainant was a passenger en route from Montego Bay to Maroon Town, St. James. When he got to his destination in Summer Hill, he proceeded to exit the vehicle and began pulling the elderly man's wallet with $22,000 from his pocket. He ran before jumping into the back of a van.

He was later held on August 22 when he was smoking a ganja cigarette. He told the police that he had only taken $1,500 from the wallet.