Charity carpenter Safraz Ally was on Monday sentenced to 18 months in prison after a city court found him guilty of misusing $2.6 million that had been entrusted to him.
In May, Ally, 32, was read a charge which stated that on September 4, 2013, being entrusted by Anna Correia with $2.6 million to purchase and deliver a boat, a 200 hp engine, a steering wheel and two blade propellers, he fraudulently converted the same to his own use and benefit.
The prosecution’s case was that Ally and Correia had known each other for about five years prior to the incident. Sometime during March, 2013, the two met in Charity and discussed the defendant sourcing the boat, engine and other aforementioned items for Correia.
On September 4, that same year, they met again and Correia handed over $2.6 million to Ally on the condition that he would deliver the items in two weeks. When several months passed and he had neither followed through on their agreement nor refunded her money, Correia made a report to the police and Ally was subsequently arrested and charged.
Before handing down the sentence, Magistrate Judy Latchman, who presided over Ally’s trial at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court 3, stated that as no money had been returned to Correia, she was convinced that Ally had in fact used the money for his own benefit.
The magistrate also stated that she had considered the quantity of money involved, the fact that it was Ally’s first offence and also that he had breached the element of trust with the complainant.
Given all these things, she sentenced the father of three to 18 months in prison.
