Judge: Case should be a family affair

A TEENAGE mother from Ipswich has avoided an immediate sentence for defrauding her brother after being told by a judge: This should have been sorted out in the family.

A TEENAGE mother from Ipswich has avoided an immediate sentence for defrauding her brother after being told by a judge: “This should have been sorted out in the family.”

Cassy Farber, 19, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud after using her brother's bank cards to pay her mobile phone bills and a loan charge.

Lesla Small, prosecuting, told South East Suffolk Magistrates that Farber used her brother Luke's Lloyds TSB card to pay £321 to T-mobile between June 9 and July 10. She then used his NatWest card between June 1 and July 20 to pay £198 off the phone account.

On July 18 she telephoned Anderson Young, a loan company, and used Mr Farber's NatWest card to pay a £44 fee.

The court heard that although the woman had a reprimand for stealing £180 from her mother in the past, she had no previous convictions.

Farber, of Morland Road in Ipswich, told the court that she had moved in with her grandmother since the incidents concerning her brother came to light and her mother had insisted that her five-month-old baby was not to live with her until the court case was over.

District Judge David Cooper said Farber's mother was “obviously a powerful woman”.

He added: “You should not be here, it should have been sorted out within the family.”

Farber, who was suffering from depression when she offended, was told to pay back the £563 and she was conditionally discharged for a year.