Jamaican housemaid who did not have a work permit.

Penelope Cooke pleaded guilty to employing the woman at her home Rockmoor Farm, St. Mark's Road, Smiths, but said she had no idea the lady did not have a work permit.

Her lawyer Susan Davis said the woman, Dorothy Warner, had been in Bermuda for 12 years working for various families and gave no indication that she did not have permission to work.

She said Mrs. Warner worked with the previous owner of Rockmoor Farm, who recommended her highly -- as did other families with whom she was working.

Ms Davis said: "She was a victim. She was taken for a ride by Mrs. Warner.

"Mrs. Warner lied to our client, to the previous owner of the property and to other Bermudian families.

"My client had no reason to doubt what Mrs. Warner said. Mrs. Warner said she had been working for 12 years.'' Crown prosecutor Graveney Bannister said that when Immigration officers went to the house, Mrs. Cooke admitted she employed Mrs. Warner, but said she had been retained by the previous owners.

Mrs. Cooke said she did not know Mrs. Warner did not have permission to work.

Mr. Bannister said: "There is no excuse for saying the worker comes with the property.

"This is clearly to say the lady came with the property. The lady is not chattel.

Noting that the fine for a first offence of employing a worker without a permit is $5,000 and/or three months imprisonment, Mr. Banniser asked for stiff a penalty to be handed out to deter others.

Mrs. Warner is understood to have already been fined after pleading guilty to working without a permit.

Magistrate Archibald Warner said: "This is bothering me. The employer should be dealt with more seriously than an employee when both are charged at the same time.

"I like to take the emotive and political aspects out of matters that come before me, and no doubt immigration matters carry a political aspect that can blind the normal application of sanctions.'' Binding Mrs. Cooke over for 12 months, he added: "There may be further sanctions from the Immigration Department in terms of their attitude in the future.''