Store attendant in hot water over stolen clothes

A community report was ordered for a woman who admitted to stealing $33,000 worth of clothes when she appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday.

Vanessa Nichol, 31, was charged with simple larceny following an incident on Orange Street, downtown Kingston. The stolen items consist of 12 slim-fit lady's jeans, two dresses and a jumper shorts.

When she was asked by Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque why she committed the act, Nichol said was was doing someone a favour by carrying a bag.

"Is somebody give me to carry, you know, it wasn't mine. A next worker give me. I will take the blame for that. On the day, Your Honour, when she called me, I don't know what come over me why I take that bag," Nichol told the court.

Nichol said that she was asked to take the bag -- which she claimed that she did not know what were the stolen items -- from inside the business place, which she placed on a stall on the outside.

"I went for it and left it outside for her, but I will take the blame, because I was the one who shouldn't carry nothing, Miss," Nichol said.

The items have since been recovered.

The judge has ordered that Nichol be fingerprinted and requested a community report, which should include the complainant's statement to assist with sentencing.

Nichol is expected to return to court on June 13.

Karen Aikens, who was charged with receiving stolen property after the goods were found on her stall, was freed after prosecutors offered no evidence against her.