A man who claimed that hunger drove him into a stupor that caused him to pluck three live chickens from a passing truck on Monday morning, was sentenced to 30 days behind bars when he appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court.

Kevin Simmonds pleaded guilty to a charge of simple larceny when he appeared before presiding magistrate Judith Pusey on Wednesday.

A police officer, according to court documents, saw when Simmonds ran to the back of the truck – which was laden with live chickens – as it stopped at a traffic light on Clarendon Avenue, Molynes Road about 8:15 am. He took three chickens from the vehicle and ran across the street, where he deposited them in a plastic box. According to the court papers, Simmonds then ran to another truck carrying chickens, but before he could grab any more of the birds the police intervened. He ran off, but the police caught up with him a few metres down Molynes Road. He was arrested and charged, and all three chickens were safely returned to their ‘nest’.

When Simmonds appeared in court on Wednesday, he told Pusey that hunger had caused him to steal the chickens.

“Your honour, I was very hungry, and Mr McKenzie [my boss] don’t sign my cheque, and I went three days without food, your honour. I don’t know what happen your honour, I saw the chickens and something just come over me, your honour,” he told Pusey. Pusey, however, dismissed Simmonds’ arguments.

“You can run that story by somebody else. You hear me? Nobody lives in Jamaica for three days without food and still alive. When people hungry in Jamaica they go to Ms Maisie shop and say ‘My cheque don’t reach yet, but you can trust me some chicken parts till Monday’,” Pusey said.

“Some people just cannot see other people’s things and think that it is not a free for all,” she added.

She then handed down the sentence.