A 38-YEAR-old man was yesterday jailed for four years after being found guilty on 21 counts of forging and circulating cheques and obtaining goods worth around £5,000 under false pretences.
The sentence did not go down well with Pavlos Sfongaras, alias Popeye, who spent the next half hour hurling abuse at police officers.
He was locked in the court holding cells but his shouting could be heard in other courtrooms, which were in session at the time.
Apart from the 21 charges he faced, the court also took into consideration as string of other cases against him, ranging from armed (knife) attempted robbery, and the theft of cheques and credit cards.
According to the court’s decision, around a year ago, Sfongaras stole a chequebook from a car parked outside a nightclub.
In January 2004, the CID started receiving complaints about forged cheques floating around.
Their investigation into the case led them to the defendant, who was arrested on January 27.
He claimed that it was someone else who had stolen the chequebook but admitted the charges he faced.
Sfongaras, a father of two underage children, had a previous conviction in relation with possession and supply of controlled substances, the court said.
His lawyer, George Kazantzis, suggested that his crimes were a result of drug withdrawal syndrome and that his client had managed to kick the habit after several attempts.
Judge Nicos Yiapanas noted that the seriousness of the crimes was reflected by the penalty – 14 years for forgery of a cheque.
And it used to be life imprisonment until April 2004, he pointed out.
“Forgery and circulation of cheques and obtaining money and goods under false pretences belonged to a class of offences, which not only are committed frequently but they were also on the rise,” Yiapanas said.
Cheque fraud hurt and undermined the social, commercial and economic life and could cause rifts in the security of transactions and the economy, with unforeseen consequences, the court added.
“If they are left uncontrolled they will become the scourge of economic life and activity,” the judge said.
Sfongaras, who was in the process of getting a divorce, initially got involved with drugs as a recreational user without his wife knowing.
But the situation worsened and the couple split soon afterwards.
The defendant has been unemployed since 2003.
The court said it took his personal circumstances into consideration but also stressed that the complainants were never compensated for the losses – around £5,720 – that they incurred “from his devious acts”.
And Yiapanas said he could not accept the defence’s argument that his client was suffering from withdrawal syndrome when he committed the crimes.
The court pointed out that the fact that he was a drug user who made several attempts to rehabilitate himself did not affect the case directly.
He forged the cheques to obtain goods and cash, the judge said, sentencing Sfongaras to four years in jail for forgery, four years for circulating a forged document and two years for obtaining goods and cash under false pretences.
The sentences run concurrently.
His term started on September 13, 2004 when he was first taken into custody.
Sfongaras’ detainment between March 5 and July 21, 2004 would also count towards his term, the court said.
