a Woodbourne Avenue guest house and stole $45 -- a suspended prison sentence.

Vincent McDonald Pitt told Mr. King he had a "drinking problem'' and said he found a door to a Bay Ridge House apartment open on Saturday.

"So you just turned and slipped in, or did you go broadside?'' Mr. King asked. "Did you shift your body to get in, yes? Because I'm listening to you.

"Having reviewed your conviction record and having heard your explanation and guilty plea, I'm going to give you what you've been here asking for,'' Mr.

King added. "A three month prison sentence suspended for two years. Mr. Pitt don't come back up in here.'' Earlier Pitt said: "I was under the influence of alcohol. I have a drinking problem and I'd like to get the court to know that I need to get help.'' Pitt, 46, of Princess Street, Pembroke, added that a church group was helping him find work and he had "a lot of bills to pay''.

"I was, like, wandering abroad,'' he added. "There was no forced entry. The door was open enough that I could walk right in. They had forgot and left the door open.'' Crown counsel Cindy Clarke said a resident at the guest house awoke to find Pitt in the doorway to a bedroom.

Another person awoke and they were able to detain him.

One person found his wallet had been moved and cash had been taken out. The other's wallet had also been moved but no money was missing.

Once Police arrived, the cash was found near where Pitt had been held.

Mr. King asked Pitt what his punishment should be, considering the penalty could be a 12-month prison sentence.

Pitt replied: "How about a suspended sentence? I could get to pay off my bills working for that Christian group.'' Youth sentenced to secure home The two prongs of Bermuda's attack on youth crime and delinquency came into focus in Magistrates' Court.

A St. George's teen was sentenced to one year in a home under the Young Offenders Act for stealing from his mother's landlord and possessing cannabis.

He had already been committed to the Sunshine League for six months under the Children's Act as a "child in need of care and protection''.

Mr. Greaves did comment the Children's Act civil sentence and the Young Offender's Act criminal sentence could be "double jeopardy''.

But then Mr. Greaves noted that just four days after being put into the care of the Child and Family Services Department, he was caught with cannabis.

He made the sentence and committal concurrent.

Now 14, the boy admitted he had been smoking cannabis in primary school.

"I was messing with it when I was in P Six, ten or 12 (years old),'' he told Mr. Greaves, who had asked: "When did you first start with the colly (sic) weed?'' Police prosecutor Peter Giles said, on December 31, the boy's mother gave her landlord $160 to go toward her rent.

Also the boy was assigned that day to run errands for the landlord who was convalescing.

At one point the money -- which had been left out -- was found missing and Police were called.

The boy was found later that day in Hamilton Parish. He told Police he had caught a bus and had bought cannabis from an unknown man.

Mr. Greaves said: "You know, we went to school and did some crazy things as youngsters but we didn't smoke drugs. The average parent doesn't know.'' And he took the opportunity to reinforce his belief the Young Offenders Act should be changed.

"This is just amazing. An interesting scenario but I believe they will soon fix it. They recognise that they should fix it. Mister, keep away from drugs!'' US VISITOR ADMITS TO IMPAIRED DRIVING CTS US visitor admits to impaired driving American visitor Michael Gilbert Ciliberti was fined $600 and banned from the roads for one year yesterday after he admitted driving while twice over the alcohol limit.

Ciliberti pleaded guilty before Acting Senior Magistrate Edward King to riding a livery cycle on June 11 with 179 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.

A charge of riding while impaired was dropped by prosecutor Cindy Clarke after Ciliberti, 35, of Wilmington, Delaware, admitted he was over the limit.

Mr. King heard that uniformed officers stopped Ciliberti on Trimingham Hill at 2.40 a.m. for riding at high speed without a helmet or lights.

He told Police "yes, I had one beer'' but, once he was shown the breath test results, he apologised for any "inconvenience''.