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A woman who reportedly tricked a man she met online into believing she was a beauty queen and a real-estate agent, barely missed being sent to jail for six months when she was sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magis-trate's Court on Thursday.
Charged with obtaining money by false pretence is Karen Fray.
The court was told Fray met the complainant, who lives in The Cayman Islands, on the Internet in January. It is alleged that she sent a picture of her friend and told the complainant it was she. She reportedly led the complainant to believe she was a beauty queen and realtor, and told him to send money to rent an apartment where they could stay together when he came to visit.
It is alleged she also got money from the complainant when she told him she was a university student and needed money to help pay for school. The complainant reportedly sent her $250,000 in total.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The court was told when the complainant came to see her in Jamaica, he could not find her</span>. After calling her on more than one occasion however, she admitted over the phone she was not who he thought she was. He asked to meet her nonetheless and when she agreed, the police were called and, she was arrested.
Fray, 21, however, told the court that the complainant had seen her before on a webcam. <span style="font-weight: bold">She said he gave her the money as a gift and only decided to take it back when she refused to go to Negril or to have sex with him.</span>
Though Fray's father repaid the complainant, she was initially sentenced to six months' imprisonment at hard labour. Her father, obviously distraught by the sentence, was reduced to tears. Queen's Counsel Norma Linton, however, begged Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey to offer Fray a suspended sentence instead. After much thought, the sentence was amended to six months in jail, suspended for two years. Fray will also have to undergo supervision and counselling.
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