Archive for December 24th, 2012
$1M thief gets 5 years
(CNS): A former insurance firm manager was handed down a five year sentence on Christmas Eve by Justice Alex Henderson for the theft of around US$1 million from clients who used his services. David Self (53) admitted stealing money from his clients over a twelve month period, which began in January 2011 when the company he owned got into financial difficulties. The major shareholder of Monkton Insurance, which offered services to captive insurance firms, Self stole money from Warco, a captive created for a group of US auto-dealers that he managed, to top up his own flagging income, the court heard, rather than adapt to his declining earnings.
For almost a year Self took money from different clients’ accounts and used other clients’ money to pay them back in a spiral of crime which left Warco as the last clients out of pocket when CIMA declared Monkton insolvent.
As he handed down the five year sentence on Monday, Justice Henderson said the appropriate starting point was eight years but he gave Self a full discount as a result of his complete cooperation with the authorities from the beginning and his obvious remorse, after Self was said to have handed over his entire assets, including his home, to the liquidators.
Comparing Self’s case to the recent theft by the former Chamber Pension plan manager, David Shultz, Henderson acknowledged that while Self had taken considerably more money, he had not attempted to abscond, as was the case with Shultz.
Once the hopelessly insolvent position of Monktoncame to light, at which point CIMA appointed liquidators, Self made a full and frank confession and was described as assisting both the authorities and the liquidators in the case. The 53-year-old chartered accountant had no previous convictions and, once confronted by the offences, as well as making a full admission he surrendered to custody and gave up everything he owned.
Self’s defence attorney told the court that his client accepted full responsibility for taking the money and his efforts to cover up one theft with another in order to sustain the lifestyle he and his family were accustomed to rather than rein in expenditures.
The judge confirmed that the time Self had already spent in jail would be taken into account.
Cops charge murder suspect
(CNS): Updated 3pm — The man accused of killing Jackson Rainford (23) was charged by police on Sunday evening. Tareek Ricardo Ricketts (21) appeared in court Christmas Eve to face one count of murder and one count of possession of an unlicensed firearm in connection with the first fatal shooting of the year. Ricketts is accused of shooting Rainford multiple times as he sat in a car in the Printer’s Way area on Sunday 16 December at around 10:30. Police picked up the suspected shooter early last Monday, a few hours after Rainford, a Jamaican national living in Spotts-Newlands, was pronounced dead. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
The case was transmitted to the Grand Court where Ricketts, who was represented by Defence attorney Prathna Bodden, will next appear on Friday, 11 January.