A man who appeared in Magistrates' Court yesterday claimed to have been a cocaine user since he was 15 years old.

Maxwell Smith, 31, currently incarcerated at Westgate on another matter, pleaded guilty to breaking in to the Homestyle Kitchen Restaurant at the Western Stars Sports Club on St. John's Road in Pembroke.

Crown counsel Shakira Dill told Acting Magistrate Carlisle Greaves that Smith stole 40 cans of juice and soda, 18 bags of chips and two cartons of cigarettes from the restaurant between February 17 and February 18. The goods were valued at more than $150.

Mr. Greaves became concerned when he heard the 31-year-old man had a record dating back to when he was a juvenile, and had been a cocaine user since he was 15.

"They do come younger than that these days, regrettably," said Smith's lawyer, Llewellyn Peniston.

Mr. Peniston asked Mr. Greaves to send Smith to Drug Court, saying this was an "intersection in his life", and one last chance to cure his drug problem.

"Who says you can't cure it (a drug problem) in jail?" asked Mr. Greaves.

People who break into houses like this "make me nervous", he added.

Mr. Greaves remanded him in custody pending a BARC assessment.