Breastfeeding does not fall under "exceptional circumstances" which could spare women from jail it was decided at Appeal Court.

Karla Elizabeth Trott was sentenced to eight-and-a-half months' imprisonment for stealing more than $100,000 from her former employers by Appeal Court President Edward Zacca.

The Department of Public Prosecutions launched the appeal after Trott received a 12-month suspended sentence.

The judgement meant she would not spend time in jail despite pleading guilty to seven counts of stealing and two of theft. The court heard Trott, of Sandys, stole $108,985.86 from Bermuda Realty Company Ltd. over a four-year period and was only caught out in May 2006 when she went on sick leave.

She stole cash on 129 occasions and also wrote herself nine cheques, one of which was deposited in her six-year-old daughter's bank account.

During the Supreme Court hearing, Puisne Justice Charles Etta Simmons said the defence of having children to look after was not an excuse to avoid custody.

However on hearing that Trott has a child who was still breast-feeding and that she was also currently working two part-time jobs, Mrs. Justice Simmons handed her a 12-month suspended sentence.

The judge also took into account Trott's early guilty plea and the fact that she had no previous convictions.

But yesterday Crown counsel Cindy Clarke argued that the sentence was "manifestly inadequate" and did not act as a deterrent.

She said Mrs. Justice Simmons had looked at the "devastating effect" an imprisonment would have on Trott's family but, Ms Clarke argued, hers was not an exceptional circumstance. Ms Clarke added many women could also argue young children as a mitigating factor when it came time for their sentencings.

Trott's lawyer Victoria Pearman told the court her client had not stolen the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, but to pay for her children and cover debts being racked up by her then boyfriend, who unbeknown to her was a drug addict.

She added that the young children had no other immediate family and the two-year-old was still being breast fed.

But Mr. Justice Zacca said Trott's case presented no exceptional circumstances which could spare her from jail. She was immediately taken into custody.