(1987)1987Noveirtvr27 [TRIANTAFYLLIDES Ρ LORiS KOURRIS JJ 1 DIANA ELIE NEHME, Appellant ν THE POLICE Respondents (Cnminal Appeal No 490S) Sentence — Possessing of forgedtravellerscheques, uttenng afalse document obtaining money byfalsepretences andattemptingtoobtain money byfalse pretences—12months impnsonment forthefirstoffence ISmonths forthe second 12months for thethirdand12months' forthefourth allsentences to run concurrently — Appellant amamed woman of 30 deserted by her 5 husband withthree minorchildren, one ofwhom suffenng withhisheart — Appellant is a Lebanese living m Lebanon — TnalJudge thought thatthe second of the aforesaid offences is punishable with life impnsonment whereas inreality itispunishablewithimpnsonment of3years (Thecharge was brought under s 335 of the Cnminal Code Cap 154) — In the 10 circumstancessentence of 18months impnsonment manifestlyexcessive — Reduced to 12months impnsonment The facts of thiscasesufficiently appearinthejudgmentofthe Court Appeal allowed Appeal against sentence. 15 Appeal against sentence by Diana Elie Nehme who was convicted on the 5th September,1987 at the Distnct Court of Larnaca (Criminal CaseNo 8158/87)ononecountofthe offence ofpossessingaforged travellerscheque contrarytosection345 of the Cnminal Code, Cap 154, on one count of the offence of 20 uttenng a false document contrary tosections331, 333,335and 339 of Cap 154, on one count of obtaining money by false pretences contrary tosections297 and298 of Cap 154 and on one count of theoffence of attempting to obtain money by false pretences contrary tosections297, 298and367of Cap 154and 25 was sentenced by Eliades, DJ to twelve months' impnsonment 242 2 C.L.R. Nehme v. Police on the first, third and fourth counts and to eighteen months' imprisonment on the second count the sentences to run concurrently C Emthantdes, for the appellant 5 AM Angehdes, Senior Counsel of the Republic, for the respondents TRiANTAFYLLIDES Ρ The judgment of the Court will be delivered by Koums,J KOURRIS J This is an appeal against the sentences of 10 imprisonment imposed by aJudge of theDistrictCourto f Lamaca on 5 9 1987 on the appellant on her own plea of guilty The appellant pleaded guilty to the offences of (a)possession of forged travellers cheques, (b)uttenng a false document, 15 (c)Obtaining money by false pretences, and (d)Attempting to obtain money by false pretences, and was sentenced to 12 months' impnsonment, 18 mor is' imprisonment, 12 months' impnsonment and 12 mo .r* imprisonment on each count respectively all sentences to ι 20 concurrently The appellant is a subject of Lebanon and on 6 8 1987 an ved in Lamaca Cyprus On the same day she went to a bra . of Barclay's Bank and presented three traveller's cheques the Bank of Amenca for one hundred dollars each and thecler' ,fthe 25 bank paid toher the sum of £C147 She then went toa branch of theBank ofCyprus and presented threetraveller's cheques issued on the bank of Amenca for cne hundred dollars each The clerk, however, realized that the traveller's cheques were forged and informed thepolice who amved at the bank and interrogated the 30 appellant The appellant confessed that she had another 14 traveller's cheques issuedontheBank of Amenca for onehundred dollars each which she kept in he: hotel room She led the police to her room and handed to *hei"n th? traveller's cheques The police also seized the si'm ot Λ.147 which the appellant had 35 obtained by cashing the th ?e forgpd traveller's cheques The appellant was arrested ι. ι the same day and was kept in custody until her tnal before the.District Court of Lamaca Theappellant is30 years old,mamed with threeminorchildren from 3 -10 years of age respectively, andshe islivingin Lebanon 243 Kounis J. Nehoie v. Police d*W> Her husband deserted herand went to Kuwait She saidthatone of her children is suffering- with his heart and is in. need of treatment. ThetrialJudgeinpassingsentenceontheappellant,saidthathe had taken into consideration the seriousness of the offences and particularly the offence of count 2 which is punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Itshould be noted that theappellantoncount2wascharged underS.335oftheCriminal Code Cap. 154 and the maximum punishment provided for is imprisonment for3 years. 5 10 We formed theviewthatthe trialJudge inpassingsentence on the appellant of 18 months' imprisonment, was under the impression that the maximum sentence provided for was imprisonment for life andobviously he waswronginlaw. Inthesecircumstances,wethinkthatthesentenceof18months' 15 imprisonment is manifestly excessive and we reduce it to 12 months' imprisonment. Weallowtheappealandwesetthesentenceasideasmanifestly excessive and we reduce the sentence to 12 months' imprisonment from the date of conviction, to run concurrently 20 with the terms of imprisonment imposed on the appellant in respect oftheothercounts. Inthe result, the appeal is,therefore, allowed accordingly. Appeal allowed. Sentence of 18months reduced to12 months. 244 25