Steven O’Neill is taken to jail after pleading guilty to a range of thefts in Magistrates’ Court yesterday. Photo by Coggie Gibbons
Steven O’Neill is taken to jail after pleading guilty to a range of thefts in Magistrates’ Court yesterday. Photo by Coggie Gibbons
A self-confessed heroin addict was remanded in custody yesterday for 13 crimes of dishonesty committed over a two-week period.

Steven James O'Neill maintained an earlier not guilty plea to a charge of dishonestly obtaining $397 in cash from a bank teller.

As his mother quietly wept and his wife looked on, Mr. O'Neill, 22, pleaded guilty to stealing a crash helmet, rain jacket and 19 cheques from under the seat of John Stephen Dunleavy's motorcycle, which was parked on Reid Street on February 23.

Mr. O'Neill, of Berkeley Road, Pembroke, also admitted forging two of the cheques and using them at the Bank of Butterfield to obtain a total of $2,600 cash on the day of the original theft.

He later wrote out a third cheque of Mr. Dunleavy's for $397 and tried to use it at the bank, but was denied the money.

Crown Counsel Graveney Bannister told the court that surveillance cameras captured him committing those crimes.

A camera also caught Mr. O'Neill burgling the Management Services and Financial Assistance offices on Church Street on Mar. 2.

Having smashed his way into the offices, causing a total of more than $8,500 in damage, he reportedly ransacked them and stole office supplies, a digital camera, cash and a cheque for $200.

He also stole a rain suit from the basket of Valerie Richards's motorcycle on February 26 when she left the bike parked near her work on Pitts Bay Road.

It was that which led to Mr. O'Neill's downfall, as the garment turned up in his possession when police executed one of two search warrants of his residence.

Lastly, he pleaded guilty to being found in a guest room at Pompano Beach Club without lawful excuse on Mar. 9 after management discovered him there.

Mr. O'Neill claimed to be a construction worker and escaped when the staff went to ask the building firm about him.

Two weeks ago, when Mr. O'Neill initially denied all the charges, the court remanded him in custody after an application by another prosecutor.

However, Mr. Bannister yesterday agreed to bail for Mr. O'Neill after duty counsel Leo Mills applied for it pending pre-sentence reports.

Mr. Tokunbo, though, refused, saying: "Given his previous convictions, the circumstances of 13 offences and his heroin addiction there's a strong likelihood of a custodial sentence and that may be an incentive not to appear in court."

He ordered Mr. O'Neill's return to court on May 9 for sentencing.