A man who used a home computer to forge gaming machine vouchers to the tune of $1,500 was handed a nine-month prison sentence suspended for one year and ordered to repay the victim of the fraud $1,200.

The court heard on Thursday that 33-year-old painter Shawn Antoine Simmons had forged two gaming machine vouchers, for $700 and $500 and had two accomplices present them to staff at the The Beach bar on Front Street in May this year.

They successfully made off with $1,200 in cash, but Beach staff later detected the fraud and alerted the Police.

Simmons, of Crown Lane, Warwick, was caught when he tried the scam again two days later.

Police were called and the man admitted he was the mastermind of the previous scams.

Simmons pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to the forgeries.

He begged for leniency saying he had fallen on hard times since returning to the Island after nine months in Canada.

Simmons was known to the court for previous offences involving dishonesty and breaking and entering, the court was told.

?That was years ago,? Simmons told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner.

?I?ve been doing all right since then. I?ve been working steady and just managed to land my apartment.

?I?m really remorseful for these incidents. At the time I was in serious financial difficulty, didn?t have anywhere to stay and I had to deal with child support chasing after me. I had to pay my dues on that and I was just having a hard time.?

He said he was ?desperate? and had little recourse.

?Sometimes it gets like that in Bermuda ... it was for a cause ? to keep my head above water. If I didn?t have any money I would have been in jail for child support. I had nine months in Canada and came back to nothing.?

He said he eventually landed a painting job but still needed financial assistance from Government which was refused.

?You can do without cable, you can do without a telephone but still a man?s got to pay his rent in order to survive. I needed a slingshot to get on my feet. I?m not into robbing houses, I made a mistake and I?m asking the court to please be lenient.?

Simmons then offered to repay the money to the bar.

Mr. Warner said he was concerned the scam was not a ?one-off? but a carefully worked out conspiracy.

?This was a systematic fraud which you worked out, planned and executed to defraud these people,? he said before sentencing him.