Mum escapes jail in K20,000 fiddle

The National National

A WOMAN was on Friday sentenced to three years imprisonment for forgery and misappropriation of nearly K20,000 belonging to PNG Red Cross Society.
Waigani National Court judge Justice Teresa Berrigan, however, effected a suspended on Mercy Lohia, 28, from Central but with conditions.
Lohia, a mother of three, was an accounts officer with Red Cross when she forged documents to clear 25 bank cheques totalling K19,151.75 between December last year and March this year.
She expressed remorse and pleaded guilty at an early stage of the case for forgery, misappropriation and uttering (knowingly presenting forged documents). That saves the court’s time and money which the court considered as genuine.
She also refunded K5000 as restitution.
According to the mitigation factors from her pre-sentence report, Lohia was in a considerable amount of strain over sorrow and stress after her husband died last year which forced her to do what she did to support her family.
Her views were supported by the secretary-general of Red Cross and a church minister who said she took the money to support her family and children.
Lohia’s church pastor stated that she was an active member of the church, being a Sunday schoolteacher with good character.
Red Cross and her church supported her pre-sentence report for a suspended sentence. The court ordered Lohia to repay the outstanding amount of K14,151.75 within two years and do community work with her church for a year under the supervision of Correctional Services probation officers and a representative from her church.
Failure to do so will result in her going to jail.
Justice Berrigan said Lohia’s actions had significant impact on Red Cross’s operations nationally and internationally.
However, the Red Cross was still concerned about her.
The court was told that Red Cross was a not-for-profit charity organisation which relied on donations and aid to carry out its work to help those in need and the loss of money would have great impact on the operations of the organisation.