Clerk accused of $50,000 forgery

Regina Sammy-Baynes, represented by defence attorney Llewelyn Thompson, appeared before Justice Anthony Carmona in the Tobago Assizes on Tuesday charged with three separate counts of forgery, uttering a forged document, and obtaining property by a forged document, on January 24, 2000 at Black Rock and at Crown Point. Sammy-Baynes, 35, of Black Rock, pleaded guilty.

Charges in the matter were laid by Insp Welch of the Fraud Squad. State prosecutor Mauriceia Joseph led evidence that Sammy-Baynes had been employed for about a year as an accounts clerk at Stone Haven Villas and her duties included reviewing accounts, preparing vouchers, and distributing as well as cashing cheques. Joseph told the court, Sammy-Baynes tendered a Stone Haven cheque in the sum of $50,000 — payable to the administrator of the THA Division of Works/Tran-sport/Infrastructure — at the bank and was given two manager’s cheques to the value of $5,000 and $45,000.

The court heard that the next day a supervisor at the bank, having uncovered certain irregularities in the transaction conducted by Sammy-Baynes, contacted Hugh Avey, who, along with Jennifer Avey and Brenda Farfan, were directors of Stone Haven Villas.

The three were all signatories to the company’s account at the bank. Hugh Avey subsequently interviewed Sammy-Baynes and she told him Farfan had left instructions for the cheque to be prepared and Hugh had signed the cheque, the court was told. He, however, denied signing the cheque.

Further, when the cheque was shown to him, he pointed out the signature was not his. Farfan also denied giving instructions to Sammy-Baynes to prepare the cheque.

Farfan said she was familiar with Hugh’s signature and the one on the cheque was not his. Carmona said he would like to have the benefit of a probation report on Sammy-Baynes before handing down sentence. He ordered the report should be submitted by July 6.