A woman was able to walk free on Tuesday when all eight charges relating to embezzlement were dropped after the Crown offered no evidence against her.

The woman, Kimani Holmes, appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court for the first time on January 14, 2021, after she was charged for embezzling over $442,000 between August 2020 and October 2020, from Ribbiz Ocean Lounge, when she was employed as a cashier.

The court was told that Holmes allegedly duplicated customers’ credit or debit card receipts from the National Commercial Bank (NCB) terminal after they made a purchase. It was revealed that she then allegedly used the duplicated receipts to attribute payment to the next customer who paid in cash, and then pocketed that cash. During an audit the deed was discovered.

However, the court was told the witness who conducted the audit resigned and has since refused to provide a statement to the court, and another manager the court had relied on to provide a statement had resigned as well and is also not cooperating with the prosecution.

Holmes was told by Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague that, “Crown offers no evidence against the defendant on all eight counts. She is accordingly discharged.”