KINGSTON (AP):
FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT boxing champ Trevor Berbick was cleared of a burglary charge yesterday after the woman who accused him of breaking into her house decided not to pursue the matter in court, officials said.
Berbick, who has a criminal record in the United States, was arrested in January after his sister-in-law accused him of sneaking through her window and stealing several household items from her home in eastern Port Antonio.
"The (plaintiff) decided that she did not wish to proceed against the accused," court clerk Ray-Norcliffe Edwards said. "He's free to go."
The woman, Gwendolyn Facey, asked only that police return to her the several items allegedly stolen by Berbick, including an electric drill, a pick-axe and some clothes.
Police discovered the goods in January during a search of Berbick's home.
Before entering the courthouse yesterday, Berbick told The Associated Press he was innocent of the charge, saying someone planted the items in his house while he was at the beach.
"The evidence is very clear that my house was broken into," he said by telephone. "I was the victim."
Berbick was the last boxer to beat Muhammad Ali in 1981. He went on to win the WBC heavyweight title in 1985, only to lose it a year later to Mike Tyson.
The burglary charge was the latest brush with the law for the troubled ex-champ, who was deported to his native Jamaica from the United States in December 2002.
In 1991, Berbick, 48, was convicted of assault in Florida for holding a gun to his former business manager's head and accusing her of stealing US$40,000.
A year later, he was convicted of raping a family baby sitter and forging his ex-wife's signature to get a US$95,000 mortgage on a house in Miramar, Florida.
Berbick received a four-year sentence for the offences, serving 15 months in prison before being deported in 1997. He was deported a second time after illegally re-entering the country.
He has no prior criminal record in Jamaica.
