The Crown alleged that Michelle Hyde, a bookkeeper operating as Simply Bookkeeping, defrauded her client Castor Canadensis of approximately $300,000 between August 7, 2013 and June 20, 2016.
The Crown's case rested on evidence of fraudulent cheques written to cash or to Simply, many of which were either mis-posted to other suppliers in the general ledger or not posted at all, with funds deposited into Hyde's Simply bank account.
The defendant claimed the payments were legitimate compensation for work performed at an agreed hourly rate of $80/hour, and that cheques to cash were part of a scheme with the firm's principal to conceal the extent of bookkeeping expenditures from investors.
The court rejected the defendant's evidence entirely and found her guilty based on the totality of evidence, including testimony from the firm's principal, its accountant, and documentary evidence showing a pattern of deliberate misposting and non-posting of cheques.
