A young man who tricked a woman and stole the $80,000 that she got from friends and family to rent a house, claimed the woman is his ex-girlfriend.

“Me and her did deh,” Sean Gordon told the court on Monday after first pleading not guilty to larceny from the dwelling.

However, he later changed his plea after the prosecutor told the court that he had admitted to the police that he had taken the money when he was held.

“A me woman and me did give her $30,000 and we talk bout it,” he reportedly told the police.

The complainant told the court that she had gone through a period of misfortune in which she lost her son to gunmen and later ended up getting shot and had to move from her community.

The woman said she went to stay with a friend in Duhaney Park, St Andrew and met Gordon, whom she knew before, and he told her about a premises that was renting.

“I was waiting on my brother to come and carry us to go look on the place and Sean tell me say him want bun and cheese, so me left and go buy it and when me come back me nuh see Sean or the money,” she told the court, while explaining that the money was accumulated through the effort of her friends and family.

“Me nuh see him from that day,” the complainant said.

The money went missing in September 2015. However, the complainant was on Heywood Street in downtown Kingston on June 30 this year, when she saw Gordon, held onto him and called nearby police who were on foot patrol.

Gordon, whose bail was extended, is to return to court on August 29 with the money to repay the complainant and for his sentence.