A 30-year-old ?menace to society? was imprisoned for two years last week after he admitted in the Supreme Court to breaking into a woman?s home, stealing two cheques and trying to cash them.

Admitted heroin addict Joeshon Hinson Russell, 30, of Pembroke, burgled Rachael Gina MacIntosh?s Middle Park Lane, Pembroke home on January 6, 2003.

Russell ? who has admitted he has used hard drugs since he was 12-years-old ? had been under the terms of the Drug Court since 2003, but has been un-cooperative and withdrew from the programme. This prompted prosecutors to follow through with prosecution for Ms MacIntosh?s break-in.

Russell said he found the Drug Court?s conditions to be a challenge and withdrew after two years. Crown counsel Cindy Clarke told Pusine Justice Ian Kawaley that Russell got in through an unlocked window and took the Butterfield Bank cheques from a jewellery box.

Between January 7 and 9, 2003, he presented two cheques made out for $800 for himself at a Bank of Butterfield branch and tried to cash them.

Last week Russell pleaded guilty to one count of house breaking with intent to steal, two counts of forgery, two counts of uttering and two counts of false pretending.

Mr. Justice Kawaley sentenced Russell to two concurrent two-year sentences for each offence for one count of housebreaking with intent to steal, two counts of forgery, two counts of uttering and two counts of false pretending.

Crown counsel Cindy Clarke urged Mr. Justice Kawaley to make an example of Russell because she said he is a ?menace to society and public nuisance? and impose a sentence to deter others from committing similar offences.

He told Mr. Warner: ?Drug Court was hard for me, I didn?t have any rights as a human, there were difficult conditions, the only way to leave the court was to be kicked out of the court.

?I was trying to be independent, I got a bank account. I?m not a bad person, I made bad choices, I?ve learned I was running away of the realities of struggling... I?ve learned a lot from Westgate.

?I apologise for leaving the programme, I have dreams and goals, I know what needs to be done. I had no rigts, no free choice as a human. It was difficult conditions. I was kicked out of the Drug Court. It was the only way.?

But Mr. Justice Kawaley responded: ?It?s clear to me you have a high level of awareness of yourself and your life than when you committed these offences. I hope when you?re released that you tread a positive path. I hope you have hidden talents to reveal to the community.