I was ‘put in’, fraud tells court

His was a situation that he had been “put in”.

So said selfconfessed fraud Diego Jerome King when he reappeared in the No. 4 Supreme Court on Wednesday.

King, of York Terrace, The Pine, St Michael, pleaded guilty, at an earlier Session of the Continuous Sittings, that with intent to defraud, he attempted to obtain $78 845.44 from RBC Royal Bank by using a cheque – a forged instrument – payable to Diego King and drawn on the account of Choo’s Enterprises Ltd, knowing the same to be forged, between August 9 and 16, 2018.

“I am very sorry. This is like a situation I get put in, but the situation I get put [in], I’m very sorry,” he said.

His attorney Zaria Taylor submitted that the offence was a “nonviolent one” and he had cooperated with police.

She said the defence acknowledged it was “an act of dishonesty” but argued that King was not the mastermind.

Taylor said King had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, had no previous convictions and had a favourable pre-sentencing report.

She argued that three years would be the appropriate starting point for his sentence and suggested he be made to pay a fine of $5 000 in a year.

However, State Counsel Paul Prescod argued the starting sentence should be ten years and any fine should be in the range of $7 500 forthwith. He added the threshold for a custodial sentence had been crossed.

“We’re not talking about $2, we’re talking about $78 000,” he said.

Prescod said the only mitigating factor was that the money had been recovered.

However, he noted the mitigating factors slightly outweighed the aggravating features in relation to the offender.

“This is a classic case where a fine can be recommended in the circumstances,” he said.

Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell will sentence King on February 13 next year. (HLE)

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