A hapless crook was caught red-handed inside a man’s living room – after thinking he was in his mother’s house.
Ronald Kinmond, 45, initially denied breaking into Martin Bell’s flat on Arklay Street, claiming that his front door was already broken when he arrived.
An apologetic Kinmond, who said he was high on valium, repeatedly protested his innocence and showed Mr Bell an empty rucksack.
A sheriff was prepared to call for social work reports on Kinmond, a prolific offender, but he refused and asked for a prison sentence.
The victim asked Kinmond: “So you’re telling me someone broke in but didn’t take anything and you came in later?” to which Kinmond replied “that’s correct”.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Mr Bell returned home from work at 5pm to find Kinmond on his couch.
Prosecutor Vicki Bell said: “The accused was seated on the sofa and replied, ‘do you live here?’
“He was again asked what he was doing and replied ‘I thought this was my mum’s house’
“The accused said he was high on valium and pleaded with the witness not to hit him because he had five kids.”
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Mr Bell took a photograph on his iPad of Kinmond who made off towards Clepington Road.
Appearing from custody, Kinmond, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pleaded guilty to breaking into the flat with intent to steal on July 11 last year.
Defence solicitor Jim Laverty said Kinmond had slipped back into using illicit substances after being cut off from his methadone prescription.
Mr Laverty urged Sheriff Lorna Drummond to call for background reports, saying that simply imposing a prison sentence would be like “applying a plaster to a fractured limb”.
However, upon hearing this suggestion, Kinmond took matters into his own hands and called on Sheriff Drummond to simply jail him.
Kinmond said: “I’d rather just get a sentence today. I’m very sorry that all this happened and I’m sorry for the guy as well.”
He was jailed for 10 months.
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