A man who previously had to repay persons for defrauding them was again charged with fraud and has been sentenced to two years behind bars.
Neil Benjamin, 67, of Section ‘C’ Enterprise was yesterday sentenced by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Courts. The charge against him states that between June 6, 2020 and December 30, 2020, at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he obtained from Odessa Bob, $1,168,000, by falsely pretending to her that he was in the position to obtain two homes and land from the Ministry of Housing for her, knowing same to be false.
It was also alleged that between December 19, 2020 and January 8, 2020, at Carmichael Street, Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he obtained $360,000 from Vanessa James by falsely pretending he was in a position to purchase and deliver a motorcar to her, knowing same to be false.
After pleading guilty with explanation to both charges, he asked the court for time to repay both women.
The prosecutor told the court that Benjamin was previously charged with similar offences and he was able to settle the matters by paying the persons he defrauded, the amounts defrauded. The court also heard that Bob and Benjamin have been friends for four years. It was reported that Benjamin contacted Bob and told her about turnkey houses which he said he was able to assist her with purchasing. He told her he had a link at the Ministry of Housing and that he knew of places available at Perseverance, East Bank Demerara. He initially told her that the house would cost $4,200,000. She then made a down payment of $600,000 to him. Bob also informed her uncle, who resides in the United States of America, about the houses and he transferred $568,000 for her to make down payments for him. But after handing the monies over to Benjamin, she was approached by a colleague who showed her the news articles stating that Benjamin was charged with fraud in 2017. The woman then went to the police and made a report of the situation. An investigation was conducted by the police and it was revealed that the man was not employed by the Ministry of Housing and was not authorised to conduct any business on behalf of the ministry. As such, he was contacted and he admitted to the charge.
The court also heard that Benjamin met James via Facebook. The prosecutor informed that Benjamin visited Bob and it was then that he overheard her discussing her desire to purchase a car. The prosecutor said that the man informed her that he could help her with getting a car deal since he has ‘linkages’ at the Chris Auto Spares. The prosecutor said that the pair went to the car dealership place where he helped her choose a car. The prosecutor said that the woman gave Benjamin moneys which were to be paid to the car dealership. He said that the woman never received any receipts for payments and as such she started to have him sign receipts when she handed over moneys to him. She later found out that there were previous fraud charges against the man and she subsequently made a report at a Police Station. An investigation revealed that Benjamin has no ‘linkages’ at the car dealership.
When Benjamin was allowed to address the court, he informed that the two women had approached him and asked for their monies to be returned. He said that at the time he didn’t have the amount and then asked that the court grants him the time to make the payments. He also said that he had told James that he would assist her with $200,000 for the payment of the car.
The Chief Magistrate noted that he had been approached and didn’t have the money to pay the women and asked him how he intended to make the money now. He responded that he works. However, his answer was not sufficient for the magistrate and she sentenced him to two years imprisonment for the first charge, and 18 months in jail for the second. The charges will run concurrently.
