A 17-year-old former employee of Low’s Service Station was fined $40,000 for embezzling $600 when she appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Vanessa Khemraj of Lusignan pleaded guilty to embezzling $600 from Low’s Service Station on December 31.

Khemraj, who was employed as a sales clerk at the gas station would work as a cashier every other week as well. On the day in question, she said, she had given a customer $500 extra in change. When another customer later purchased a pair of batteries valued $600 and did not want a receipt, she used that sale to cover the $500 she had given away.

Her employer, Robin Low, said he filed charges not because of the $600 but because Khemraj had admitted to the police that she had done the same thing “five or six times before”. Low told the court that she had used a method by which cashiers can take large sums of money out of the register.

He told the court that for him to know what is unaccounted for he would have to close his business and do a massive stock check.

Prosecutor in the case, Inspector Stephen Telford, asked that the clerk be sentenced after which he and the magistrate consulted the law texts before judgement was handed down.

When the magistrate asked Khemraj if she thought what she did was right the girl responded, “No your worship.” The magistrate then asked if the parties had tried to reach a settlement and Low told the court that while at the police station he had proposed that he would take stock and Khemraj would pay off any missing sums, but the girl chose to have her say in court.

Later, the magistrate explained to Khemraj that her offence carried a fine of $40,000 to $80,000 or 18 months in jail. After discussions between the parties the decision to fine the girl $40,000 was handed down.