The former executive director of Keep Bermuda Beautiful has narrowly avoided jail time after stealing more than $40,000 from the charity.

Lennox Boodram used a credit card to help himself to the cash over a four-year period, using it to fuel his drug habit.

According to director of the charity Susan Harvey, the crime had a devastating impact on its operations to clean up litter and educate the public.

"It is impossible to assess the damage done to this useful and valuable organisation by this man's breach of the trust inherent in his position.

"People have long memories and it will be many years before the taint of his dishonesty and irresponsibility will be forgotten," she told Supreme Court in a statement.

Puisne Justice Charles-Etta Simmons on Tuesday suspended the one-year prison term meted out to Boodram for two years. She also imposed an 18-month probation order, explaining she had taken into account the fact that he is an unemployed house husband, caring for his children aged two and eight.

Boodram's long-term unemployment means it would be "pointless" to order him to pay back the money, she observed.

Boodram, a 47-year-old Trinidadian national who is married to a Bermudian, pleaded guilty at a previous Supreme Court appearance to stealing the cash. He has no previous convictions.

Outlining the circumstances of the case, Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale said Boodram was the only full-time, salaried member of staff at KBB, reporting to an executive committee staffed by volunteers.

Prior to mid-2001, said Ms Tyndale, the charity made purchases and payments via cheques drawn on its Bank of Bermuda account, which had to be signed by two people from the committee plus Boodram. However, he got approval for a credit card to be issued in the charity's name, telling the committee this would allow for more expeditious payments for sundry items and overseas travel.

A standing order was set up so the balance of the card would be paid each month by direct debit from the chequing account.

Boodram abused the card by making more than 100 ATM withdrawals from 2001 though to 2005 amounting to $42,050.

Ms Tyndale said the committee became aware of the withdrawals, warned Boodram he was not authorised to make personal purchases, and told him to desist.

She did not tell the court when this occurred. However, she said Boodram carried on until 2005 when he was suspended from his duties over concerns about the quality of his work. The president of KBB complained to the Police in December 2005.

In a "victim impact statement" considered by the judge, Mrs. Harvey said Boodram had a great deal of autonomy and trust placed in him.

She explained the charity depends on a Government grant and donations from organisations, and has enjoyed "an extraordinarily fine reputation for its work in the community" in the past.

"Not only did Lennox Boodram steal money from KBB, he allowed the entire operation to come to a halt so that by the time he left in June 2005, people felt that Keep Bermuda Beautiful had disappeared," she said.

"Telephone calls went unanswered, voicemail had no response, the many hundred-strong membership had dwindled to a handful and the magnificent volunteer base centred in Rockwatchers had largely disbanded due to a loss of interest and leadership.

"The office telephone number had been dropped from the white pages of the telephone directory. Bills were left unpaid for such a long time that the organisation was seen as a bad risk by its creditors.

"By the time he left, the KBB's bank account had been emptied to such an extent that by the end of the month its cheques were bouncing."

Boodram claimed: "The board members knew that this money had been spent and it had been tracked."

He went on to say: "If I didn't have a drug habit, I would not have taken the money."

He asked to be sent to the Camp Spirit drug rehabilitation programme, telling the judge: "I could be a good guy in this community. I had been for a while, until I made some stupid mistakes."

Mrs. Justice Simmons said she would bear in mind what he had to say "about the lax management of the system". She also noted that Boodram has a history of drug and alcohol abuse dating back to the age of 14.

Included within the terms of his probation are orders for him to abstain from drugs and alcohol, submit to drug testing, stay out of trouble, enter a rehabilitation programme, and abide by a 9.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. curfew for the first six months.

The judge told him: "You have caused great harm indeed to the reputation of KBB. I don't have to tell you, as I'm sure you realise, it was an egregious breach of trust."