Supermarket worker convicted of forgery and uttering by servant, gets bail

THE DAILY OBSERVER- The former Cost Pro employee who forged the signatures of a number of Customs officers and was found guilty of 25 counts of forgery and uttering by a servant, was granted bail yesterday in the High Court.

Edwin Ireland, who was convicted on December 6, 2024 following a judge-alone trial, was expected to be sentenced yesterday. However, because the pre-sentencing (probation) report was not available the proceedings were adjourned to February 21.

Following his conviction, Ireland

 was remanded to His Majesty’s Prison after he was found guilty of the charges, but High Court Justice Ann-Marie Smith decided to grant him bail pending his sentencing.

He has been placed on $50,000 bail with no cash deposit and two sureties. Ireland was ordered to surrender his travel documents, which are already with the court, while being advised not to make any new application until this matter is settled.

Additionally, he has to report to a police station three days per week and must inform the police and the court 72 hours before changing his address.  

According to the facts of the case, sometime between 2019 and 2020, Ireland forged numerous receipts and received thousands of dollars in cash from his place of employment.

He was accused of unstuffing containers and presenting receipts for payment to the head cashier at Cost Pro Supermarket who then gave him cash to pay to Customs officers for duties rendered. However, the cashier would only check for the amount to be paid, and never checked for signatures, dates, or without any written receipt being signed by Ireland.

He was also the sole employee at the supermarket responsible for paying Customs officers for inspecting containers.

During the trial, it was revealed that there were certain procedures for checking containers and the amount of money that should be paid. However, these procedures were not being followed as Ireland would sometimes check the containers without a Customs officer present.

During the trial, a number of the officers stated that they wrote the dates on the receipts and allowed the defendant to fill out the rest of the information, while others denied that the signature that appeared on the receipt was theirs.

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