A man who robbed a woman of her cellular phone and was chased and chopped by a man who recovered the phone was given a suspended sentence when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

Donovan Lawrence, from Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and larceny from the person.

The complainant told the court that on August 9, she was walking with a co-worker in Half-Way Tree. She said just before she reached a plaza, she felt someone hold on to her phone, which was in her hand, and pulled on it.

She turned around and saw the accused holding on to her hand. She said she shook off his hand, causing her phone and purse and other things to fall to the ground. According to the complainant, Lawrence grabbed the phone and ran off. A man, who queried the incident, chased the accused with a cutlass and recovered the phone.

However, Lawrence told the court that his father and aunt had died and that his van had been stolen and that he had fallen on hard times. He said at the time he grabbed the phone he was hungry, but he could not explain to the court how stealing the phone would help him rid himself of his hunger. He also told the court that he had been doing short stints at a construction site but that had ended. He also explained that he was from St Elizabeth where he used to plant tomatoes and sell yam sticks to make a living.

Senior RM Glen Brown told the accused that he should return to St Elizabeth, where he can grow some crops to survive. "The problem is this, you can't survive in Kingston. The work that you want, we can't provide that in Kingston," he told the accused.

RM Brown sentenced him to nine months imprisonment at hard labour suspended for nine months. He warned the offender not to get into any trouble or he was going to go straight to prison.