The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FORMER College of The Bahamas employee Chimeka Gibbs was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Supreme Court judge yesterday for stealing over $700,000 from the tertiary institution over a seven-year period.

Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson sentenced the 40-year-old to nine years for the 16 counts of falsification of accounts and 15 years for the eight counts of stealing by reason of employment she was convicted of in February.

The sentences relative to the separate charges are to run concurrently, making for 15 years in total, Justice Grant-Thompson said.

Gibbs was also ordered to pay back the $704,580 she stole from the college, now the University of The Bahamas, between March 2008 and October 2015 within the next five years, via annual installments of $140,916.

Failure to do so will result in an additional year in prison, Justice Grant-Thompson said.

The judge also ordered that the $66,369.26 on Gibbs’ various accounts at Scotiabank, FirstCaribbean International Bank and Commonwealth Bank, be forfeited to the Public Treasury.

However, the judge said via that forfeiture, Gibbs would have satisfied almost half of the first installment to be repaid, making for a difference of $74,546.74.

In her sentencing remarks, Justice Grant-Thompson said Gibbs’ actions were “brazen and reprehensible,” and noted a “high degree of planning” was required to execute such an “egregious level” of criminality.

She also said that in previously being employed at the country’s premier tertiary institution and ultimately tasked with dealing with the payroll, Gibbs committed an “egregious, shameful and reprehensible” abuse of the trust placed in her.

“The people’s money is in my view, the people’s money,” the judge told Gibbs in her sentencing remarks. “It is not your own.”

In February, a nine-member jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on all 24 counts Gibbs was charged with concerning her actions between 2008 and 2015.

According to court documents, Gibbs served as both a senior clerk and a human resources assistant at the college.

The jury was told Gibbs stole over $700,000 from COB by reason of her employment at the institution. The jurors were also told Gibbs falsified numerous COB direct deposit files, the result of which purported to show she was entitled to over $200,000 in salary payments.

Earlier this month, Kaylesa Simmons, a senior probation officer from the Department of Rehabilitative Welfare Services, told Justice Grant-Bethel that it wouldn’t be in Gibbs’ “best interest” for her to serve a prison term for her actions, and said the mother of one is capable of rehabilitation and reform.

When questioned by the judge on Gibbs’ prospects for counselling at the time, the senior probation officer said as Gibbs has not admitted to the offences, there really wouldn’t be anything to counsel her on.

However, Ms Simmons said if Justice Grant-Thompson decided to impose a custodial sentence, part of Gibbs’ rehabilitation should include her teaching basic computer skills to the female inmates at the Department of Correctional Services.

Gibbs’ attorney Roger Gomez, also submitted at the time that as his client has no previous convictions, she would be a “bigger asset to society” if she is not given a custodial sentence.

When the issue concerning Gibbs repaying whatever remains of the money she stole arose, Mr Gomez indicated at the time that her various bank accounts have been frozen as a result of her court case. However, he said the court can simply seize the funds in her accounts.

And yesterday, Mr Gomez submitted that if the court was minded to impose a custodial sentence, five years would suffice, bearing in mind the government would be recouping the remaining $66,369.26 from Gibbs’ various accounts.

Crown prosecutor Al-Leecia Delancy had previously disagreed with the suggestion that Gibbs be given a non-custodial sentence, charging that she “must be held accountable for her actions.”

Ms Delancy also submitted at the time Gibbs is not capable of being reformed, based on the probation report indicating she has not admitted to the crime and thus shows no remorse.

Yesterday, Justice Grant-Thompson said while she has respect for Ms Simmons and appreciated her submissions concerning Gibbs’ fate, she could agree with those assertions.

Justice Grant-Thompson said she considered some of what was contained in the probation report, that Gibbs was raised in a stable environment, and was afforded a private school education for the majority of her life, formally at St Bede’s Catholic School for grades 1-6, Aquinas College for grades 7-11 before completing the 12th grade at CR Walker High School. According to the probation report, Gibbs also obtained an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from Success Training College. Justice Grant-Thompson also noted that Gibbs had no previous convictions. 

Nonetheless, the judge said a custodial sentence is warranted in the circumstances, and further said the sentence imposed should be one that reflects society’s and legislators’ abhorrence to the kind of behavior exhibited by Gibbs.

Justice Grant-Thompson ultimately sentenced the 40-year-old on her “24 counts of dishonesty,” adding that the sentence will hopefully serve to “prevent and protect society” from such a thing ever happening again, while simultaneously rehabilitating Gibbs in the process.