IN JAMAICA: Pregnant and facing FRAUD CHARGES... I am accused of stealing is $50,000.

ALL WOMAN Monday, August 17, 2015 , By Margarette Macaulay

Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I was charged with cheque fraud and simple larceny in May 2014. This is my first offence and the amount I am accused of stealing is $50,000. Due to the fact that I am now pregnant, I wanted to avoid the stress of a trial during my pregnancy and offered to make full restitution, but the offer was rejected by the complainant and the prosecutor. Is there any way for me to avoid a trial and any further expense that a trial might incur?

You write that you have been charged with 'cheque fraud' and 'simple larceny', in that you are accused of stealing $50,000. This I understand to mean that you are either charged with larceny as a servant, obtaining money by false pretences or uttering a forged document (cheque), and simple larceny.

You can only 'avoid' a full-fledged trial by pleading guilty to the offence(s) with which you are charged. Then you can make pleas to the judge to mitigate your sentence. So you cannot 'avoid' a trial, but you can avoid a full fledged trial wherein the prosecution's evidence is given and cross-examination is done, and then the defence's evidence is also given and cross-examination is done, depending on if the defence gives evidence or makes a dock statement or calls witnesses (remember, an accused has the right to remain silent as it is for the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against you). When both sides have closed their cases and made their submissions, the judge then passes sentence after any plea in mitigation is made.

You should, in such circumstances of pleading guilty, explain everything when you are asked whether you have anything to say before you are sentenced. You should start by saying that you have pleaded guilty because you do not wish to waste the court's time; that you have never before committed any offence; that you are sorry about what you did and explain why you did it; and, add, if true, that you had not intended to keep the money permanently but to refund it later but your action had been discovered before you could do so. more