Man who wrote bounced cheque sentenced to pay $15K restitution

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The defendant wrote cheques knowing there were insufficient funds in his account
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By Latrishka Thomas

[email protected]

A man who was found guilty of “obtaining money by false pretences” – for writing a cheque knowing that he did not have enough money in his account – has to reimburse the complainant $15,000 within three months.

Alphonso Ryan was convicted of writing a bounced cheque over a week ago by High Court Justice Colin Williams.

Seven years ago, Ryan issued a cheque in the amount of $16,902.98 to Plumbing and Electrical Limited (PEL) as payment for plumbing and electrical supplies, knowing that there were insufficient funds in his account.

The convict, who had known the complainant for a number of years, went to PEL on August 8 2014 and received goods worth almost $8,000.

He wrote a cheque to the complainant but asked him not to cash it until September 16 because he needed to “sort out some finances at the bank”.

On September 1 2014, Ryan went back to the establishment and credited a further $9,029.70 worth of goods and wrote a new cheque with the total sum of the two invoices — $16,902.98 — and dated that cheque September 24.

When that day came, the complainant called the accused and asked him if he could now deposit the cheque and, based on the conversation, he did so.

However, the cheque was returned to him.

The complainant informed the defendant about the returned cheque, and the defendant again asked for a few days to “sort some issues with the bank”.

A few days passed and the complainant decided to call Ryan and gave him the option to return the goods, but he failed to do so.

A report was subsequently made to the police.

Ryan’s legal representative told the court yesterday that his client could make restitution within three months.

He was therefore sentenced to pay $5,000 to the complainant every month starting from September.

Should he fail to pay the monies, he will face one-year imprisonment.

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