Convicted fraudster Cedric Oates has been jailed for two-and-a-half years, and must repay his victim $200,000.The 42-year-old US national fraudulently induced Dianne Laird to invest her life savings of $345,000 in a “flipping” scheme to profit off US real estate, the Supreme Court found.Oates, a former school guidance counsellor, has consistently denied duping Ms Laird into the belief that he had investment expertise.He lowered his head to the side of the dock yesterday as Acting Puisne Judge Charlene Scott delivered her sentence.Summing up her case, Crown counsel Nicole Smith said Ms Laird “constantly asked for evidence, such as promissory notes” that Oates maintained would be given to her as proof that the 2009 scheme would pay off.No evidence was ultimately provided, Ms Smith said, adding: “That’s dishonest, that’s mean, and that’s greedy.”The Canadian physical education teacher befriended Oates, who coached her basketball team, in 2008.The court heard he claimed to have a friend in the US who was seeing substantial profits through the acquisition and resale of property.Ms Laird, who has since returned to Canada, maintained she was convinced and pressured into giving Oates and his associate her entire savings over a nine-month period.She had been planning to build her “dream home” with the money, and is now living with her parents.In her victim impact statement, Ms Laird wrote: “This has consumed my mind, and therefore I just have not been the same person that I was. The trial and media coverage was extremely upsetting to me.”After being charged in 2010, she added, Oates was granted permission to travel overseas for medical treatment, and didn’t come back for seven months.Ms Laird said Oates was “nonchalant and shows no remorse”.According to Ms Smith, Oates has made no attempt to repay any of the monies lost.“We live in a community that is rife with financial hardship due to the struggling world economy,” Ms Smith continued.“The financial crisis has spawned a breeding ground for these types of offences.”However, defence lawyer Charles Richardson argued that Oates, who has never pleaded guilty and expects to appeal, was not charged with obtaining the money by deception, and held no real position of financial authority in Ms Laird’s life.While sympathising with the victim’s loss, Mr Richardson pointed to her “contributory negligence”.“She is not what I would call vulnerable,” he said.Ms Laird was an educated women who parted willingly with her money after no promissory notes were produced by his client, Mr Richardson added.Oates, a married father-of-four, will likely be deported from the Island after serving his sentence, he said.Mr Richardson also said his client has received a sum of roughly $105,000 from his US associate in the scheme.The money is currently held in a bank account frozen by the court, and he said Oates had agreed to use it toward repaying Ms Laird’s loss.Oates, whom a jury unanimously found guilty on October 25, told the court: “I’d just like to say that it was never my intention at any point to cause Ms Laird harm.“It was my desire to make sure she was paid back. I’m very sorry for her loss. I am at the mercy of the court.”The prosecution asked for a term of imprisonment of four to five years, coupled with a court order for Oates to repay the money.Acting Justice Scott said: “This has been an interesting case in that there is not any other case that has come before the court that we can truly hang our hats upon.“We have other cases to assist, and they are similar, but also very dissimilar in a lot of instances.”However, she found that, as a counsellor in particular, Oates had acted in breach of trust, and had persistently sought to persuade Ms Laird that she would get her money back.Oates was given an immediate custodial sentence of two-and-a-half years, with time spent in custody taken into account.Whatever money remaining in the frozen bank account is to be released to Ms Laird “as soon as possible”, and a minimum sum of $200,000 repaid, Acting Justice Scott ordered.