A man who broke into the Donald Quarrie High School in Harbour View, East Kingston, and stole items — including 18 footballs and three headbands — claimed he was drunk and that he was probably drugged by his friends, who lead him astray.

“It’s not my work, I just get caught up. I was on some alcohol, and it’s not my operation. Friends lead me there,” Joseph Darlington told the court after pleading guilty to simple larceny.

“I was smoking weed. I don’t know if my friends drug me, but I know I was very, very high,” he said. “Guess I lick head with friends that deal with things that I don’t deal with.”

When asked by Judge Collins to explain what the “things” were, Darlington would only say “different from marijuana that I smoke”.

“I was on the right and narrow path, that is not the real me,” Darlington added.

The judge then asked him, “How long ago you took the wrong turn?”

Darlington, in response, told the judge that he is a florist and a landscaper and always tries to do the right thing.

The judge then asked Darlington if he wanted to be enrolled in the drug court programme and he said that he wanted counselling.

He was subsequently remanded to the drug treatment court and will return to court on November 23.

Darlington was caught by a security guard coming out of the school, on November 7 at 3:40 am, with 18 footballs, a mesh bag, three headbands, a wristband, a merino, and a glove.