Community service and a fine each for law graduates
Insurance fraudsters Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner, both 23, were fined as much as £4,200 and given 16 months community service by the Brazilian court, papers report.
The Express said the judge delivered a sentence of 14 months in prison plus one month in supervised detention – but converted it to be served as community service instead. Local media reported that the women would have to do one hour of community service a day for 16 months, but could opt to do two hours a day for eight months.
Appeal against “harsh sentence”
Their lawyer Renato Tonini said that the law graduates would appeal against the “harsh sentence” and hoped to return to the UK soon.
H saide: “This sentence is very severe. We will be appealing against it and I am confident we will win.”
Tonini said that he hoped the country’s High Court would reduce the punishment and allow the two women to serve their sentence in England.
They will also have a criminal record which will prevent them from becoming lawyers.
Variations on sentences
The Guardian said Judge Flavio Itabaiana gave the pair seven hours of community service each day in Brazil for a period of eight months and ordered them to pay a fine of around £3,000.
The Telegraph said the pair were sentenced to 17 months in jail for attempted insurance fraud, wasting police time and falsifying a police report, according to Dr Lucas Martins Moreira, the women's lawyer.
The judge commuted the sentence to community service.
The pair admitted they were trying to scam their insurance company to help pay for part of their nine-month round-the-world trip.
