A mother-of-four was sentenced to two years behind bars on Tuesday for stealing over $17,000 from her former employer?s grandmother.

Kenwaunde Henry, 39 of Broome St., Sandys entered guilty pleas to all 13 offences including stealing two Bank of Bermuda cheques, two Bank of Butterfield cheques, four counts of making false documents by acting as if the cheques were genuine, four counts of knowingly forging the cheques for various amounts and four counts of obtaining the sum of money from the cheques.

The incidents occurred between November 1 and December 30 2005.

The first cheque was written in the amount of $2,850 to the Bank of Bermuda.

The second was cashed on December 15 for the amount of $4,700 at the Bank of Butterfield.

The third cheque was written on December 23 and cashed at the Bank of Butterfield in the amount of $3,250.

The final cheque was for the amount of $6,850 at the Bank of Bermuda on December 30.

The cheques were stolen from Mildred Lorraine Johnson, the grandmother of Henry?s employer.

Henry appeared remorseful for her crime including in her explanation that she had written a five-page letter of apology to the complainant.

?I do feel bad about what I done. It wasn?t planned.?

She continued: ?I was under a lot of stress at the time.

?What I done was wrong and I have to deal with the consequences.

?The bottom line is I shouldn?t have done what I done and I send apologies to her family.?

Senior Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo took into consideration her ?slew? of previous similar offences when sentencing the defendant.

?These are serious offences. The community must be protected from individuals who engage in this type of behaviour.?

Mr. Tokunbo gave Henry an immediate custodial sentence ? six months for stealing the cheques, 12 months for each of the four counts of making false documents by acting as if the cheques were genuine, nine months for each of the four counts of knowingly forging the cheques for various amounts and two years for each of the four counts of obtaining the sum of money from the cheques.

The sentences are to run concurrently.