Postmistress jailed six years for $145,000 theft

ABUSE of trust by a person such as a postmistress warrants the need for severe punishment, stated a San Fernando High Court judge yesterday as he jailed former acting post-mistress Gloria Ramnarine for six and a half years for stealing $145,000 from the Government. Ramnarine, 51, of Grant Street, Rio Claro, was found guilty in the San Fernando High Court last Thursday of stealing $145,703 from the safes of the Rio Claro Post Office. Trial judge Malcolm Holdip said the court had a duty to deal sternly with those who abused trust at the expense of others, so that others would be deterred from committing similar offences.

“The greater the abuse of trust implicitly placed in such a person as a postmistress, the greater the need to punish severely and thereby deter others from being tempted to behave in that way,” Holdip said. Ramnarine, a mother of six, was post mistress between December 3, 1996 and February 3, 1997, after some 20 years service in the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Services. As acting post mistress, she had $145,703.05 in her charge, which was placed in the safes and for which she had the keys. Ramnarine said she put the monies in the drawers of the safes and never went back to check on the cash, even when preparing her bi-monthly reports. On February 3, 1997, however, when she discovered the money missing, she did not report the loss to her superiors. When Ramnarine did speak to another supervisor, she said she was trying to replace the cash because she felt morally responsible for the loss. “The story of this case is lamentable, but it is not, unfortunately an unusual one. A person in a position of trust has abused that position,” Holdip said.

The Judge added that a term of imprisonment was inevitable, save in very exceptional circumstances, or where the amount of money taken was very small. He said despite the great punishment that offenders of this sort bring on themselves, the court should nevertheless pass a sufficiently substantial term of imprisonment to make public the gravity of the offence. The State’s case was presented by State prosecutor Narissa Ramsundar, while Ramnarine was defended by attorneys Nizam Mohammed and Ian Stuart Brook.