A man caught stealing mangoes from a house in State Gardens, Kingston 10 was sent to jail for 20 days.

Kevin Grant, a 33-year-old unemployed man from 6 Cowper Drive, Kingston 10 pleaded guilty to trespassing and praedial larceny when the case was mentioned in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Allegations are that on November 1 at 9:50 a.m., a police officer was driving through State Gardens when he noticed a bag of green things beside a pair of black slippers beside a wall outside a house.

The officer stopped at the residence and saw the accused man picking mangoes from a tree on the premises. When the officer asked him if he had permission to be picking the mangoes, the accused said no .

The police then asked him what he intended to do with the fruits and Grant allegedly told the police that they were for breakfast. The officer then called police from the Half-Way Tree Station, who are responsible for the area. The mangoes were counted in Grant's presence and a total of 42 mangoes were counted.

The owner of the house allegedly also came out and told police that the man had constantly been to premises in the area picking mangoes. Grant was arrested and charged.

However while the accused claimed at the time that he was picking the mangoes for breakfast, he admitted in court that he picked them to sell, so he could use the money to buy things.

The police also told the court that there had been a number of incidents of praedial larceny and house break-ins in the community. The police also said that the accused fit the description of a person accused of being involved in two break-ins. The officer added that prints were lifted from those scenes and would be compared with Grant's to determine if he was involved.