Five weeks after being found guilty on three fraud charges, Cory Athelbert Lynch was sentenced to three years in jail on each count.
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However, due to deductions for the delay in the case getting to trial, as well as time spent on remand, he will serve two years and two months for each offence, to run concurrently.
Last December 11, a jury unanimously found Lynch, 35, of Small Land, Bridge Gap, St Michael, guilty of having three identification (ID) cards purporting to be genuine, bearing the names Paul Kevin Wright, Aviston Decourcei Downes and Dale Anderson Bourne, all on December 30, 2020, while not at his home and which were for use in criminal deception.
He returned for sentencing yesterday by Justice Wanda Blair in Supreme Court No. 4A.
The judge told him: “Although there is no evidence that these cards were used to defraud anyone, I do not think it was a coincidence that you were found with these cards while parked behind a financial institution. Some sophistication went into the production of those cards and I am sure it was not done to play monopoly.
“Those cards were designed to deceive people into thinking that those were legitimate identification cards. And no citizen can rest comfortably knowing that their personal information was placed on a fraudulent identification card which could have only been designed to carry out some criminal enterprise,” she added.
Never lost cards
During the trial, the cardholders all testified that they never lost their cards nor were they ever stolen. The evidence of retired former deputy chief electoral officer, Ian Browne, was that none of the three ID cards which police brought to him for verification was valid, nor were they issued by the Electoral Department.
Lynch denied knowing anything about the fraudulent ID cards and insisted
he found them in a hired car which he borrowed from a friend. He only ran from police on December 30, 2020, because he had no driver’s licence at the time and had marijuana in the car, he told the court.
In determining sentence, Justice Blair said she considered Lynch’s eight previous convictions and that his risk of re-offending had been deemed high.
During sentencing submissions, Principal State Counsel Joyann Catwell said the threshold for a custodial sentence had been passed. She argued that there had been some sophistication in planning, they were three dishonest offences, multiple victims had been impacted, and that Lynch’s actions had undermined the Electoral and Boundaries Commission, a Government institution which provides a service to the public.
Defence counsel Lynette Eastmond had asked the court to consider the fact that Lynch never used the cards, there was no evidence he was responsible for manufacturing them, and it was not a violent crime which placed society at risk. Although the complainants might have suffered some form of emotional distress, they did not lose any money or property, she added.
The attorney further suggested that since her client had a supportive family, he could be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and be allowed to take part in any available rehabilitative programmes. (SD)