A 23-year-old employee of a wellness centre was brought before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday to answer to charges of larceny as a servant.

Nieyashia McKenzie was given six months suspended sentence for one year after.

On the day of the incident, McKenzie is alleged to have stolen a little more than $20,000 from her employer in order to attend to the emergency illness of her daughter.

McKenzie then told her employer that she had taken the money and was told to put it in writing, to which she complied. A subsequent report was made to the police and McKenzie was arrested and charged.

Her attorney made an impassioned plea to have her sentence reduced saying that it would smear her records and prevent her from gaining further employment. RM Pusey responded that while she sympathised with the accused, he could apply to have her records expunged in the future.