“If I hadn’t fallen out of the tree, the woman wouldn’t have heard me,” Donlee Frederick Wright reportedly told police after he was arrested for criminal trespass and theft in October 2012.
In Summary Court last week, Wright told Magistrate Grace Donalds he did not remember the incident. He admitted using cocaine in those days. “I used to take breadfruit to support my habit. I didn’t want to steal money.”
He pleaded guilty to theft of 32 breadfruit, valued at $70.
Crown counsel Kenneth Ferguson provided background to this set of charges and three others when he outlined charges against Wright, who subsequently was placed on probation for 18 months.
Mr. Ferguson said a George Town woman was alerted by her neighbor around 7:30 a.m. that someone had fallen from a breadfruit tree at the front of the property and appeared dead.
The woman checked her property, noting that a chained gate had been opened. She saw the man lying on the ground and recognized him as Wright. There were several breadfruit on the ground as well. Wright got up and started picking up the breadfruit. She told him not to, but he persisted and put them in a car nearby. She called police.
When interviewed, Wright admitted entering the yard without the owner’s consent. He admitted taking the breadfruit to sell. He was bailed, but arrested in November for consuming cocaine after being found at another premises.
Later that same month he arrived at a relative’s house around 7:30 a.m. and started cursing the occupants, saying he would kill two of them and insulting the modesty of a woman by his language.
The final incident occurred on Dec. 4, 2012. Around 2:50 a.m. he went to another George Town premises and caused a disturbance, damaging the front door. Tenants called the police and when they arrived he threw a stone at them, damaging a window. He claimed the house belonged to him; in fact he had gone there without permission from the owner or tenants.
Wright, 66, told the magistrate he was surprised to hear some of the things he had done. “It wasn’t really me,’ he said. “I was smoking cocaine…A power used to drive me to do these things. I couldn’t stop.”
Since then he had asked God to help him. “Now I don’t smoke at all, just a cigarette,” Wright told the court.
The magistrate referred to a social inquiry report that said a relative of Wright’s wanted him to engage in substance abuse treatment.
Wright said he did not drink strong drink, but he would have a beer.
The probation order is on condition that Wright complete a substance abuse assessment and follow any recommendations of the probation officer. He is to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings as directed and be subjected to random drug tests.
He was also ordered to pay $872.59 for damage to property or serve three months in lieu. The magistrate gave him time to make payments.
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