A 29-year-old Guyanese woman has received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to shoplifting from the Chaguanas branch of Pennywise Cosmetics Ltd.

Selena John, a mother of two children, aged two and four, from Longdenville, was put on a $5,000 bond to keep the peace for three years after pleading guilty to larceny before magistrate Nikolas Ali on Tuesday.

The summary of the evidence presented by the police at the hearing said the incident took place at about 2.30 pm on Monday at the Pennywise Cosmetics branch on the Chaguanas Main Road.

Prosecutors told the court the offence was too prevalent and Chaguanas police had been seeing “quite a number of reports,” particularly from the Pennywise store.

John was held while leaving the store when its electronic scanner went off. Her bag was searched and employees found a Wahl hair trimmer, an LED lamp, a stick of deodorant, a tube of children’s toothpaste and a bottle of children’s shampoo, all valued at $460.75.

Her attorney Bhimal Maharajh, in a plea of mitigation, said John had a clean criminal record and was remorseful for her actions.

He said she had a pending residency application and cannot work since she does not have a work permit.

He said the items she stole were for her husband and children.

Ali considered her admission of guilt at her first court appearance and that she could not work legally to pay a fine.

He said under the terms of the bond, if she was arrested and charged with another criminal offence during the three years, she would be brought back to court to be sentenced for the shoplifting charge. If she is not charged during that time, her criminal record would be cleared.

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