Two men were sentenced to six months imprisonment last Thursday for possession of counterfeit US currency.
But attorneys for Godfrey A. Brandt and Curtis J. Connolly gave immediate notice of appeal. Magistrate Margaret Ramsay-Hale therefore granted bail pending appeal.
She explained that, because of the way sentences are calculated, the men could have served their time before the appeal is heard. Bail conditions include $5,000 with a surety and no travel.
Brandt, 26, and Connolly, 30, were found guilty after trial (Caymanian Compass, 21 September). The Prosecution’s case was that the 14 counterfeit US$100 notes were in Brandt’s vehicle and Connolly, who used the vehicle, showed the noted off on at least one occasion.
There was no allegation of the defendants using the notes.
In passing sentence, the magistrate observed that this was the hardest part of a judge’s job.
She said she had rarely heard such references of good character as had been put forward for these two defendants.
Attorneys had requested social inquiry reports and these supported the assertions of good character, honesty and integrity that were made by those who spoke on behalf of the defendants.
On the other hand, the magistrate had to consider the offences and to the defendants’ character as prison officers. As such, they were not strictly officers of the court, but they were an essential part of the criminal justice system because prisoners were entrusted to them. They had to be men of good character. They had an obligation to conduct their lives in an exemplary fashion.
The magistrate cited several authorities from English case law.
In one case it was stated that offences involving counterfeit money manifestly merit immediate imprisonment.
In another case, the court said that any one who deals in or simply has custody of counterfeit currency must expect a severe sentence. The reason is that circulation of forged currency, if allowed to escalate, could strike at the basis of a country’s economy.
It was also noted that, where courts view offences as so serious that a custodial sentence must be imposed, good character becomes of little weight.
The magistrate said that, after a great deal of anxious consideration, her view was that custody was appropriate in the case before her.
Citing the above cases in which the sentences were six and nine months, she handed down the six-month terms, in order to give the greatest weight to previous good character.
Discounts are given for guilty pleas, she noted, but this matter concluded after trial.
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