A 38-year-old man who went to a bar and drank up a huge bill then took a taxi to another town to avoid paying was fined when he appeared in the Santa Cruz Resident Magistrate's Court recently.

With a determined female bartender in hot pursuit, Donovan Armstrong of a Lacovia address was caught and made to face the courts following the incident.

Armstrong was charged with obtaining credit by fraud and was fined $20,000 or 45 days in jail when he appeared before RM Stanley Clarke.

Allegations are that on November 14, Armstrong went to a bar on Main Street in Lacovia and ordered several drinks which amounted to a total of $7,005.

Armstrong, who confessed to the court that he has been having problems since he broke up with his girlfriend earlier this year, first ordered liquor to the valued at more than $5,000.

The court heard that the bartender told him when the bill reached $5,000 at which time Armstrong informed her that he would continue drinking. He continued guzzling liquor until the amount climbed to $7,005.

After he finished drinking, he told the bartender that he wanted a credit and that he would have to go to Santa Cruz to draw the money from the bank. Armstrong then reportedly stepped outside the bar and took a taxi heading towards Santa Cruz.

The bartender chased him and the man was eventually caught in Santa Cruz. The matter was reported to the police and Armstrong was subsequently arrested and charged.

On November 22 when he first appeared before the courts, Armstrong was offered bail in the sum of $20,000, but was unable to take up the offer.