A man who was caught by a lecturer stealing an air condition unit on the campus of the University of the West Indies in St Andrew will now have to fork out $44,000 or serve 50 days in prison.

Samuel Dolye, 32, of John Golding Road in Kingston, was ordered by Parish Judge Vaughn Smith to pay $30,000 or serve 30 days after he pleaded guilty to simple larceny.

In addition, he was also asked to pay $4,000 or serve 10 days for having a knife in his possession, and $10, 000 or 10 days for breaching the University of the West Indies Mona Campus Security Act.

Doyle was caught by the lecturer on April 15 taking up the AC unit. It was handed over to security officers.

However, Doyle told the court that he did not steal the AC unit.

“I was passing when I saw the AC unit at a rubbish heap. Me alone couldn’t carry it, so me call me fren,” he said.

According to Doyle, while he and his friend were carrying the unit the lecturer saw them and told them to follow him to the security post and he complied.

“I wasn’t stealing anything. I was passing and I saw it,” he insisted, while mentioning that he told the lecturer that he took up the AC at the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

The judge then asked if the AC unit was to be disposed of, but the arresting officer said he could not confirm that but indicated that even if the AC unit was of no use, it would not have been disposed of on the campus.

“What do you do on campus?” Judge Smith asked.

“I work on a site, but on that day I was not working — I was going to visit a friend,” Doyle replied.

“Why you had to walk through the campus?” the judge further asked.

“It was a short cut for me,” Doyle said.

Judge Smith, before fining Doyle, said: “You can’t take things that don’t belong to you. Even if you saw it you should have gone to a person in authority and asked permission to take it.”