A young man stole $510 from his former girlfriend in order to buy her an engagement ring. Jordan Smith, 20, admitted taking the cash from Kate Howarth, 18, so he could propose before she left to study abroad.

Explaining his conduct after pleading guilty to using her Bank of Bermuda card on four occasions between August 12 and 16, Smith said he could not afford the ring.

He told Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo: "I've known that girl three years and made a lot of promises to her... it was her last week with me and I came across her card and got this stupid idea I could do something nice for her before she went away. I had been promising her for a while."

Crown counsel Robert Welling told the court Smith is Ms Howarth's ex-boyfriend and she visited him at his home in White Sands Road, Paget, on August 17. During the visit, she realised her ATM card was missing. Smith, who did not indicate he had anything to do with this, offered $50 to help.

Mr. Welling explained that Ms Howarth had given Smith the PIN number to her card during their relationship, but had not intended him to use it without permission. Smith later called to say his father's ex-girlfriend had found the card while doing the laundry. However, when Ms Howarth made inquiries with her bank and realised $510 had been withdrawn without permission, she confronted Smith, who admitted taking the card. She called the Police, and Smith was arrested on August 21.

He told officers he found the card and made the unauthorised transactions, but always planned to give the money back. He reiterated this position through his defence lawyer Simon Payne when he appeared in court yesterday. Mr. Payne told the court Smith had already paid back $450 and that Ms Howarth and his client remain in contact via text message and e-mail.

"This will show to the court that their relationship may or may not be over," he said. "His reason for taking it was he didn't have enough money to pay for a ring and he wanted to propose to his girlfriend before she went away. He had more than half the money to pay for this ring."

With onlookers in the courtroom bursting into laughter at this point, Mr. Tokunbo asked the lawyer: "He stole from her to pay for a ring for her? I'm trying not to laugh too."

Mr. Payne replied: "It would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. This is obviously a desperate act of a desperate young man."

The Magistrate rejected this explanation, commenting: "The desperation is trying to come up with an explanation if you come up with an explanation like that."

Mr. Payne asked that Smith be given a conditional discharge so he can pursue further education in Florida without a criminal conviction recorded against him. Smith himself told the court: "I'm sorry for my actions. It was never my intention to hurt anyone or steal. It was a desperate act."

In answer to the Magistrate's inquiry as to whether Ms Howarth ever received the ring — which Smith said he was acquiring from a friend via the Internet — he replied: "I would have given it to her." Mr. Tokunbo handed him a conditional discharge, on the conditions that he stays out of trouble for the next 12 months and pays Ms Howarth back in full.

"It really was a stupid thing. You could have had a conviction for this," he warned.