Young mother ‘embezzled thousands from company’

A YOUNG mother appeared in court yesterday charged with 54 counts of fraud and theft from the company that she used to work for.

The blonde woman stood in the dock with her arms folded and listened as her defence lawyer pleaded with Judge Angelos David to be lenient when passing sentence. The former accountant, who was forging her employer’s signature and cashing numerous cheques over a period of two years, had admitted to police that she had embezzled around £25,000 from the company she was working for on separate occasions.

“I plead to the court to show compassion when ruling on this case. The court should know that the accused was extremely co-operative with the police during the investigation and that she had immediately admitted the crime,” said her defence lawyer.
“My client has had a very troubled and unfortunate life. Her parents are enclaved from Kormakitis and she had a very turbulent first marriage in which he husband beat her on a number of occasions.

“Money was also a problem for my client, who needed to pay all the expenses in her apartment during her first marriage, as well as pay by herself the medication needed for her little girl’s asthma problem. Since her arrest, my client is a totally different person.
“She has since remarried and is not working any more, deciding that she needs to spend more time at her home with her child.”

Her lawyer went on to cite two cases in which courts in Great Britain had shown leniency to single mothers accused of crimes.

“It might also interest the court to know that my client had paid back £10,000 into the account of her previous company before being caught. In a similar case in Great Britain, the judge had shown leniency because the accused had returned some of the money he had taken before he was caught.”

Judge David informed the court that he would take all the facts and testimonies of the case into consideration and come to a decision when the trial resumes on February 6.