A Mar­aval man who pre­tend­ed he had been sent by a pas­tor to col­lect do­na­tions was yes­ter­day jailed for six months af­ter plead­ing guilty to lar­ce­ny by trick. Ger­ard Scott, 55, of Sad­dle Road, was sent to jail af­ter he ad­mit­ted to tak­ing $40 from a Mara­bel­la busi­ness­woman. He ap­peared be­fore San Fer­nan­do Mag­is­trate Ali­cia Chankar charged with the Sep­tem­ber 30 of­fence. Scott, who has 61 pre­vi­ous con­vic­tions, ap­pealed for le­nien­cy. He told the court: "My rap sheet (crim­i­nal record) is as long as my age. Every crime I have com­mit­ted is be­cause of co­caine. This is the first time I am ad­mit­ting I am a co­caine ad­dict. I do co­caine. I am not proud to say that."

Scott plead­ed for a chance. He said he need­ed coun­selling. "I had chances to go re­hab but I nev­er took it," he ad­mit­ted. Chankar not­ed that Scott ad­mit­ted he had "nu­mer­ous chances to go to re­hab." She told him: "That is up to you not me. I can­not send you." Po­lice pros­e­cu­tor Sgt Rus­sell Ra­moutar told the court that around 1.40 pm last Fri­day, Scott went to Cleopa­tra Caribbean Ltd, South­ern Main Road, Mara­bel­la, where he met Vil­iana Ra­moutars­ingh.

He told Ra­moutars­ingh, the man­ag­ing di­rec­tor of the com­pa­ny, that Pas­tor Patrick Kel­ly, of the Church of Ho­li­ness Trinidad and To­ba­go, had sent him to col­lect mon­ey. He said he need­ed mon­ey to trav­el from Mara­bel­la to Bon Air and he had not been paid. Ra­moutars­ingh gave Scott $40. She lat­er con­tact­ed Pas­tor Kel­ly who de­nied send­ing Scott to col­lect mon­ey. The busi­ness­woman made a re­port to the Mara­bel­la Po­lice Sta­tion. When con­front­ed Scott told the po­lice: "Boss ah re­al­ly take mon­ey from the la­dy. My re­al name is Ger­ard Scott. Ah sor­ry ah ac­cus­tomed do­ing that. Ah sor­ry."