Fraudster gets into spirit at court

Proceedings at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court came to a halt on Wednesday morning, when a defendant, who persecutors contend stole $10 million from her employer, started speaking in tongues from the prisoner's dock.

Police officers, lawyers, members of the public and Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell were left stunned by the utterances and behaviour of Camille Burgher, just moments before prosecutors were set to take her plea for nine counts of larceny as a servant. Leading up to the woman's outburst, the judge was making queries from Burgher, as restitution was to be made. Burgher indicated through her attorney-at-law Charles Williams that her sister made a transfer of $600,000 to the complainant by bank transfer. However, when the sister was asked about the status of the transfer, the answers weren't forthcoming.

The complainant indicated that she checked her bank account and no monies were being reflected. Between the judge's queries, the courtroom went still for a moment, then, Burgher bellowed. Hastily, she was removed from the courtroom, still speaking in tongues and taken to the holding area outside the courtroom.

It was shared by the complainant that Burgher was employed as an accountant, and bypassed security procedures and transferred more than $7 million from the company's accounts to her personal accounts, categorising them as staff loans. It is further reported that between April 2023 and May 2024, Burgher added another person, who is not employed to the company, to the payroll, transferring a salary of $800,000 and paying salary deductions of $86,000 to Tax Administration Jamaica.

The fraud was detected by a chartered accountant following an audit and totalled $10,439, 937.42. The complainant indicated at a previous court hearing that the company had to take $10 million loan to rectify the effects caused by Burgher's actions.

"Between now and your sentencing date, you have to pay back the monies, there are no two ways about it," the judge warned.

The complainant added that following the impending transfer of $600,000 and another $400,000 expected to be done on Thursday, she would only be accepting manager's cheques dropped off at her office as "she [Burgher] is not welcomed there".

Burgher is to return to court on February 20, 2025 for sentencing. She was made the subject of a fingerprint order and a social enquiry report was requested by the judge.