A single mother's hopes of becoming a teacher were crushed yesterday after she was ordered to pay back the $6,039 she cheated from the Department of Financial Assistance.

Yyonne Bean, 33, of Sandys, also received a six month suspended sentence.

Bean was convicted and sentenced in Magistrates' Court for falsifying a rent verification form which she used in her 2001 application for housing assistance from the Department of Financial Assistance.

In addition to the charges of fraud, Bean was also convicted of forging her landlord's signature on Government cheques she received monthly from November 2001 to August, 2002.

When sentencing Bean, Acting Magistrate Tyrone Chin denied her request for a social inquiry report, saying that that "the court has a good understanding of the situation from details of the case" and instead handed down the suspended sentence and ordered Bean to pay Government back by the end of this December.

"Because of this conviction I will not be able to teach, all of my hard work has gone to waste," said Bean, who works as a teacher's aide and is studying towards becoming a teacher.

"I'm now going to have incredible difficulties finding employment."

"We feel that this sentence is very perverse in law," said Bean's defence counsel, Peter Farge, who plans to appeal it. "We were very surprised (with the Court's decision)."

In a statement issued by Government yesterday, the Acting Director of Financial Assistance Mr. Douglas Tucker said he regretted that there were some who abused the system.

But he said the department was making "an effort to monitor the services provided to its clients".

A major aspect of this effort was the appointment of an investigative officer who, said Mr. Tucker, "is actively involved in verifying reports of programme abuse or other inconsistencies in the household information, such as in the case of Mrs. Bean.

"We take ever complaint seriously and all cases are investigated, with the most severe violations being referred to the Department of Public Prosecution," he added.

But Mr. Tucker emphasised the ultimate aims of the Department Financial Assistance was not to prosecute recipients but to help those who were honestly in need.

"This Department is mandated to ensure that individuals with insufficient financial resources have access to services in order to gain, maintain, or regain a minimum standard of living while encouraging personal and economic independence," he said.