Judge orders women to repay stolen money or face jail time

The National Court in Madang this week ordered a woman to repay K119,000 she stole from a service station within 18-months or serve five years in jail.
The same court also ordered another woman who had stolen K73,000 from the same service station to repay the money or serve four years in jail.
Both women were clerks who were directly involved in balancing and banking the daily takings of a busy service station that serves hundreds of vehicles in Madang daily.
Justice Gibbs Salika made the first order in the case of Clare Vagi, a former employee of JKT Ltd Puma Service Station, who had been found guilty of stealing K119,187.58 in cash.
Justice Salika said Vagi stole from her employer an amount exceeding K1000 and was liable to serve a prison term of not more than seven years.
He ordered Vagi to reimburse the money she stole from her employer within 18 months or she would be sent to jail for five years.
In the same court, Justice Salika instructed another female former employee Elizabeth James, to repay money she stole from the same service station before Vagi.
James had been found guilty on May 13, 2016 of stealing K73,150.
Justice Salika ordered her to repay JKT Ltd the money she stole before Nov 13 this year or she would be sent to jail for four years.
James has so far only repaid K5000.