A storeowner appeared in court to vouch for one of his employees after she pleaded guilty to stealing from his shop.

Serena Minors, 28, of Mullet Bay, St George's, and Lorena Richards, 19, of Devil's Hole, Smith's, pleaded guilty to a total of six charges of stealing groceries and falsifying accounts.

Minors faced two charges of falsifying accounts and two charges of stealing groceries. Richards appeared to answer one charge of stealing groceries and one charge of falsifying accounts.

But Harrington Hundreds storeowner, Anthony Aguiar said in Magistrates' Court yesterday, that Richards had a good work ethic and he believed she was influenced by other people.

The court heard from Crown Counsel Takiyah Burgess that both women were employees of Harrington Hundreds when someone told managers they were stealing from the store.

Security cameras revealed the women had been stealing groceries over a period of time, dating back to May.

Video footage showed that sometime around May 27, Minors rang up groceries totalling $73.19 and was later seen leaving the store with the goods. The camera then showed Minors coming back to the store, returning to her register and voiding the transaction.

At a later date, footage showed her ringing up groceries totalling $53.23, then leaving the store before returning later to void the transaction.

The camera also caught Richards ringing up groceries and leaving the store. It was subsequently found that Richards had rung up the purchases at a cheaper cost. Both women were arrested by Police.

Mr. Aguiar asked the court if he could speak on behalf of Richards and he said: "Lorena began working for me as a packer and she has always demonstrated good work ethic and proved valuable to me."

He said that it was not in Richards' character to do such a thing. "I have a good relationship with her and her parents and immediately after the situation, she called to apologise. My hope is that in your judgment you take my statement into account and it reflects in your sentencing."

He added: "I really like this family and I feel that she was influenced and led astray."

Mr. Aguiar said he hoped the case would not stop her in finding a job. He said he was unable to keep her on as staff.

Minors told the court that she had apologised to Mr. Aguiar, but that he did not accept her apology because he doesn't like her.

She said: "After I found everything out, I called him to apologise and offered to pay back the money for the groceries but he did not want to accept anything from me. I did not influence Lorena, she is old enough and she has a mind of her own."

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner told the two that the fact that Mr. Aguiar was in court to speak on Richards' behalf did not excuse the fact that they both stole from him.

He adjourned the case for pre-sentencing reports.