A former employee of a gas station was granted $185,000 bail on Thursday when she answered charges relating to obtaining money through forgery.
Ayana Torrington, 20, of 62 Hyde Park, Timehri pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to her by acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. It is alleged that on May 19, while being in the employ of Two Brothers Gas Station at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara, she forged a payment bill. It is further alleged that on the same day, she intended to defraud the gas station of $13,802 by uttering a forged document.
Torrington was represented by attorney Mohammed Zafar who told the court that his client has no antecedents. He asked for bail to be granted, since “the matter was not so serious as other matters.” However Police Prosecutor Stephen Telford in response to Zafar’s submission said that forgery is a very serious matter. He added, “If you try with a small amount, you can try with a big amount.”
The facts of the case are that Torrington was employed as a pump attendant/cashier by the gas station. She allegedly wrote a credit bill for a customer in the said sum but took the money for herself. The customer she wrote the bill for did not visit the gas station on the day in question.
Telford added that he had no objection to bail but asked for substantial bail to be granted due to the penalty attached to the offence.
Torrington was then granted $100,000 bail on the first charge and $85,000 on the second. The matter was then put down for July 13 at Court 10.
