Sandra Pereira Fernandes (24), who moved to the Island from Madeira aged 15, committed the offences between 1 August 2016 and 15 May 2017. She admitted one count of transferring criminal property and two counts of fraud.
Yesterday, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, told the Royal Court how on 17 April the States police were approached by a woman whose cards had been used to make 116 purchases – totalling £1,898.55 – on Amazon without her consent.
Officers later received the address and contact details from the website that were all associated with Fernandes.
The States police then seized her mobile phone and found images of the victim’s bank card saved on it along with details belonging to a 93-year-old man on a piece of paper within the device’s case.
It was later discovered that Fernandes had made 1,081 transactions through Amazon on the elderly man’s bank account, totalling £13,559.94.
And it was also revealed that another £180 had been spent on the account to buy mobile phone credit and £206.14 was spent with other online retailers.
According to Advocate Maletroit, Fernandes had previously been a lodger at the man’s house and would have been able to access his cards when she was living there.
On June 2017, the defendant was interviewed and when the photos of the cards and evidence from Amazon was presented to her, she admitted using the two victims’ cards.
Advocate Maletroit added that only a small number of the items that she had bought were recovered from her address. If she did not like them, ‘she would throw them away’, the court heard.
He also revealed that, while she was on police bail, she transferred £13,719.08 to her father’s account and closed hers. He suggested a custodial sentence of 18 months.
Advocate John McCormick, defending, drew the court’s attention to a psychiatric report and said that if Fernandes had not been suffering from post-natal depression she would have not committed the offences.
He also said that she had been assessed as having a low risk of reoffending, was extremely remorseful and was willing to pay back the money that she had spent.
Advocate McCormick then warned that prison would have a serious effect on the bond between his client and her young daughter.
In issuing the court’s sentence, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq accepted that Fernandes was remorseful but said that he could not spare her from prison.
‘The court is not blind to the effect that a custodial sentence would have on your family and daughter, but, as the Crown has mentioned, that was a matter you should have had in mind when you committed the offences and it was your responsibility,’ he said.
‘We considered if we could find any exceptional circumstances to allow us to depart from the Crown’s recommendation, but we regret that we cannot.’
Fernandes was sentenced to a total of 16 months in prison and had a confiscation order of £12,000 made against her.
Jurats Jane Ronge and Pamela Pitman were also sitting.
