Five years later…Trio gets four years jail for embezzling Digicel credit

Oct 06, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Three women, who were charged back in 2011 with fraudulently converting over $48M, in credit from Telecom Solutions (Guyana) Inc, were each sentenced to four years’ imprisonment each by Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, on Tuesday.
Melissa Naughton,39, of Lot 64 Robert Street, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara; Candacie Marshall, 31, of North Ruimveldt, Georgetown and Oladara Christian, 32, of Shell Road, Kitty, Georgetown were found guilty of conspiring together with other persons to embezzle in excess of $48M in credit from the company. The women were employed with the company. Naughton and Christian were employed as cashiers and were responsible for selling large amounts of Digicel credit via a computerised system. The women invalidated several transactions which were written off, after which they revalidated the transactions and sold them to persons to receive the proceeds for themselves.
An investigation was launched and it was revealed that Marshall sold the credit to persons but never deposited the money into the company’s accounts. It was Marshall who solicited customers from time to time.
When the matter was called on Tuesday, probation reports on the trio were presented to the court.
During their address to the court, Attorney Glenn Hanoman who represented Christian and Marshall pleaded with the Magistrate to impose a non custodial or suspended sentence on his client.
The attorney added that his clients have children to support. Further, Hanoman stated that President David Granger recently announced that there is no place for mothers in prison.
Hanoman told the court that it was the women’s first offence. The lawyer said that in an attempt to repay the company, Marshall withdrew all her savings from the bank and Christian sold her car.
However, Prosecutor Attorney Ronald Burch-Smith said that the women should be jailed for their deceitful actions. He said that they exploited their employers and such “white collar” crimes should not be condoned in society.
Burch-Smith stated that they were all adults at the time of the commissioning of the offence and were aware that it was a dishonest thing to do.
The prosecutor pointed out that Naughton, Marshall and Christian should be given the same punishment as a person who is before the court for snatching a chain.
Magistrate Leron Daly informed the court that she will impose a custodial sentence on the three based on the nature of the offence and the amount of money stolen.
The Magistrate said that she considered the facts that the women were of sound mind and understanding when they committed the offence and also were mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions. She said that her court as well as society strongly condemns theft.
Before passing sentence, Magistrate Daly took into consideration all mitigating factors raised by the attorneys. She said that although the women were mothers, they must be punished for what they did; hence the custodial sentence.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News