Fraud accused Janice Samuel was successful in her application for bail yesterday, but although the court granted it to her, she could not meet the requirements, which included a cash component of $50,000 out of the $200,000 bail. Consequently, she was remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison.
In addition to the bond, Samuel needs two sureties to sign as assurance she would return to court on every occasion set by the court. The committal date for her next appearance is October 30th, which is when she is expected to know whether the prosecution has provided enough evidence for the case to be sent to the High Court for trial.
Samuel is accused of obtaining, by way of false pretense, just over $107,000 from H2 One Limited where she worked as an office assistant between March 15th and July 7th this year.
She applied for bail on Wednesday, but Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel-Edwards adjourned the ruling until yesterday, which was when she granted the bail in the All Saints Magistrate’s Court.
Should Samuel find the cash component and two sureties and be released, she must report to Police Headquarters every day, between 6 am and 6 pm and she must notify the police 48 hours in advance of changing her address if she decides to move.
Her travel documents are to remain in the custody of the court and a block has been put in place to prevent her leaving the country. She has also been warned that upon her release, she must be of good behaviour. A breach of any of the conditions would result in her bail being revoked.
Samuel is before the court on 14 counts of obtaining money from the plumbing company by false pretense. Those are the alleged offences which her boss discovered in early July when he conducted an audit of his accounts after news broke about Samuel being convicted for embezzling approximately $5,000 for her former employer at Connie’s Comfort Suites three years ago.
Samuel’s latest boss is alleging that she prepared at least a dozen cheques without his permission and issued them to someone who had not provided any services to his company.
The individual to whom the cheques were allegedly issued cashed them at a service station for Samuel and he recently told police he was not aware that a crime was being committed.
In the case in which she was convicted last month, Samuel was given a two-year suspended sentence and had to immediately repay the $5,000 she embezzled.
If she commits any offence within the next two years and is convicted, she would be jailed for two years for the embezzlement conviction.