Cosmetologist Judy Thomas must now be rueing the fact that she and her sister Tanya Phillips aren’t identical twins.

For although Thomas is convinced that she and her sister bear a striking resemblance, her attempt to use her sibling’s British passport to leave the island last week has cost her $10,000 and a two-year suspended sentence.

On Thursday, when the case was called up in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court, the prosecution told presiding magistrate Martin Gayle that Thomas, who lives in Kingston 8, went to the Norman Manley International Airport on December 21 and tendered the British passport, which bore her sister’s name.

On inspecting the passport an airport official noticed that the photograph in the passport was not Thomas’. She was questioned and eventually revealed her true identity, saying also that the photo in the passport was that of her sister.

Thomas was subsequently arrested and charged with forgery and uttering a forged document.

After pleading guilty to both offences on Thursday, Thomas was fined $10,000 for the forgery, and given a nine-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years, for uttering the forged document.

The prosecution suggested to Gayle that Thomas could also be charged with impersonation and conspiracy to defraud.

However, Gayle opted to be lenient and added no new charges.

When asked why she committed the offence, Thomas responded that she thought she stood a good chance because “Me and mi sister fava”.