Woman jailed for series of theft and fraud

A SINGLE mother was yesterday jailed for 12 months after admitting a series of theft and forgery charges.

The 45-year-old former nurse, who has a 15-year-old daughter, had pleaded guilty to countless charges of theft, identity fraud and forgery dating back to last year but also to charges of fraud and theft after she forged her identity and the signatures of supposed guarantors to get two loans in 2002 worth £72,000.

The court had previously heard how the woman had stolen some blank cheques from a chequebook belonging to the Co-op fund for government nurses.

She also stole her colleague’s ID card and used the cheques and card throughout 2006, stealing just under £2,000 either by means of using the cheques to pay for petrol, clothes and restaurant bills or by cashing them at Co-op banks around Nicosia.

The woman had been working at the blood bank department at the Nicosia General Hospital when the thefts were committed.

Meanwhile, the woman also pleaded guilty to forging her identity and the signatures of around 20 other people so to take out two loans to build a house.

According to the charge, which dates back to February 4, 2003, “the defendant, using false pretences with the aim to defraud, managed to obtain £32,000 from the Co-op Development Bank for Public Servants by submitting a forged guarantee document.”

She had committed the same kind of offence about a year earlier at the same Co-op department for a loan of £40,000.

Jailing the woman yesterday, Judge Lemonia Kaoutzani said that the gravity of the offences were very serious and that the court had no choice but to impose the possible punishment that fits the crime.

Meanwhile, Judge Kaoutzani also took into consideration the woman’s personal and financial problems that had been previously made to the court in mitigation.

The court also accepted a medical document that the defendant was suffering from psychological problems.
??

??

??

??