A former cashier at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport received an 18-month suspended sentence after allegedly stealing thousands in cash through falsified receipts.
Jillian Fahie was arrested in July 2017 after being reported by BVI Airports Authority employees. She was charged with eight counts of theft and eight counts of false accounting.
“Having heard from witnesses, it is clear that this was out of character,” Prosecutor Tamara Foster said while delivering her closing remarks at High Court on Friday morning.
She cited testimony given by witnesses who said Ms. Fahie felt insecure about not progressing in her life as she thought she should have, comparing herself to her siblings.
Ms. Foster also acknowledged the remorse and shame Ms. Fahie expressed throughout the trial.
After considering arguments from Ms. Foster and defence attorney Valerie Stephens-Gordon, Justice Ann-Marie Smith gave Ms. Fahie an 18-month sentence suspended for two years.
The decision
In making her decision, Ms. Smith said, she considered various aggravating factors: Ms. Fahie’s actions were planned in advance, took place over the course of four months, and resulted in a breach of trust between herself and her employer.
The justice also accepted five mitigating factors: Ms. Fahie is a single mother, she entered an early guilty plea, she provided full restitution for the money she took, she surrendered herself and didn’t waste police time or money, and she was a first-time offender.
Ms. Smith also explained that she considered the degree of harm caused by Ms. Fahie’s actions, the seriousness of the offence, the culpability of the defence, and a one-third reduction of a sentencing with an early guilty plea.