By Alric Lindsay
Phillip Edward McLaughlin appeared in Summary Court today, October 15, 2024, to face charges of obtaining property by deception and theft. He pleaded guilty to obtaining property by deception.
For members of the public who may be unfamiliar with the crime of obtaining property by deception, section 247 of the Penal Code states:
Obtaining property by deception
247. (1) A person who by any deception dishonestly obtains property belonging to another, with intention of permanently depriving the other of it commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
(2) For purposes of this section a person is to be treated as obtaining property if the person obtains ownership, possession or control of it, and “obtain” includes obtaining for another or enabling another to obtain or retain.
(3) Section 240 shall apply for this section, with the necessary adaptation of the reference to appropriating, as it applies for section 235.
(4) For purposes of this section “deception” means any deception (whether reckless or deliberate) by words or conduct as to fact or as to law, including a deception as to the present intentions of the person using the deception or any other person.
In the current case, Magistrate Hernandez noted that McLaughlin, by deception, “dishonestly obtained 20,000 Cayman Islands dollars”, which was “the property of Winston Connolly”, with the “intention of permanently depriving Winston Connolly thereof.”
McLaughlin was described as doing so by falsely representing that the money was “intended for the purchase and installation of aluminium products at Mr Connolly’s house.
For the second charge of obtaining property by deception, Magistrate Hernandez noted McLaughlin, by deception, “dishonestly obtained the $13,466.50, the property of Winston Connolly, with the intention of permanently depriving Mr Connolly, by falsely representing that the said sum was intended to be used for the purchase and installation of aluminium products at Mr Connolly’s house.”
McLaughlin pleaded guilty to both charges.
He is expected to return to Court on November 5 for a sentence to be set.
