A cashier stole at least $61,000 from her employer and used it to pay for her cell phone, rent and nights out on the town.

Lakeisha Brangman, 35, admitted taking the cash from Robinson's Marina in Sandys when she appeared at Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Prosecutor Cindy Clarke explained the business comprises of a gas station and convenience store that sells items including expensive marine batteries.

On numerous occasions, Brangman processed fictitious cash returns for such batteries, pretended she had repaid the cash to the customer and then took it out of the till.

The company book-keeper, Valerie Dill, discovered the thefts when she was compiling year-end financial reports. Brangman processed 163 cash returns for batteries between October 19, 2007, and February 26, 2009. The total amount she stole was $61,046.

Ms Clarke told the court: "On some days, Brangman had processed as many as four cash returns for marine batteries, sometimes exceeding $1,000 on the same day."

She was registered on the system as cashier number six, but Ms Clarke explained: "Upon analysing the cash returns made using the other cashiers' register numbers, Ms. Dill discovered that there were a further 77 of these suspicious cash returns to a total value of $29,440 during the same period.

"These transactions were all performed on days when Lakeisha Brangman was working and all around her shift changeover time, or when she was covering for that other cashier."

Brangman was called to the manager's office on March 28, 2009, and confronted over the theft by managing director Malcolm Swan and assistant manager Kristy Roberts.

"During the meeting, Brangman freely admitted processing fictitious cash returns and stealing cash from the register for some time. She was immediately suspended from her duties and her employment at Robinson's Marina was subsequently terminated," said Ms Clarke.

Brangman, from Warwick, admitted to the thefts when she was interviewed by the Police, saying she'd used her own and other cashiers' register numbers to do so.

"When questioned as to why she had been stealing substantial amounts of cash from Robinson's Marina, Brangman stated that she had been paying her rent, her considerable cell phone bills and other utility bills. She also stated that she spent a lot of money going out and socialising with her friends," said the prosecutor.

Although Brangman was only charged with the $61,000 she took using her own cashier's number, the $29,000 stolen using other numbers will be taken into account when she's sentenced. Invited to address the court after pleading guilty yesterday, she replied: "I would just like to apologise."

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner ordered a social inquiry report and told her to return for sentencing on June 30. Meanwhile, he released her on $5,000 bail. Robinson's Marina was previously swindled out of $50,000 by another cashier in an unrelated case dealt with in 2007. On that occasion, gambling addict Keith Martin abused his position to pull off a complex scam involving falsifying transaction records. He pleaded guilty at Supreme Court and was jailed for three months.

Speaking after the Brangman case yesterday, company managing director Mr. Swan said: "The two cases are not linked. It's frightening, I tell you. I am just disappointed and it's a shame. I'm really disappointed. We employed her for quite a while."

Martin was ordered to pay the stolen cash back in instalments, and Mr. Swan said he has almost finished doing so. He said the company has also recovered money from Brangman "but not that much".

He said the company "definitely" tightened procedures in the wake of the Martin case, but commented: "They always seem to find a different way and they get smarter and smarter each time. It's really difficult."

Mr. Swan declined to comment on what punishment he would like to see meted out to Brangman.