Sentencing Emma Joanne O'Dowda (40), in the Dunedin District Court yesterday, to two years and six months' jail, Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said because she had come to court with no way of repaying any of the money, he was unable to give her the full credit she might otherwise receive.
O'Dowda, a mother of two, wept openly in the dock as the details of her situation were outlined.
She placed her hands over her face as she was sentenced.
She had earlier pleaded guilty to 11 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship.
Over a period of 32 months, between 2007 and 2009, while working as a business banking consultant for the National Bank's business banking centre in Moray Pl, Dunedin, O'Dowda made 11 unauthorised loans in her own and customers' names.
The court heard O'Dowda would create a loan, then create a larger loan to repay the previous loan.
The extra money from the new loan would be put into private accounts.
In total, O'Dowda took $376,000 for herself before a staff member noticed the discrepancies.
She told police no family or friends knew of the offending.
Prosecutor Louise Denton said the money was gone and police and the Crown had no idea how it had been spent.
It was thought up to $60,000 was spent on prescription medication and doctors' appointments.
The rest was believed to have been spent on O'Dowda's lifestyle, including designer clothing bought both in shops and online, hair appointments, travel and a large amount of groceries.
Ms Denton noted O'Dowda had issues with drug addiction, but questioned whether she had a shopping addiction.
"I submit there's a fine line between addiction and just simple greed."
The Crown recommended a starting point of between four and five years' imprisonment, Ms Denton said.
Defence counsel Jim Large suggested there were several matters the court should be mindful of in relation to O'Dowda's offending.
To her credit, she had co-operated with police and the bank's investigator, had not offended before and was clearly remorseful.
She had a history of eating disorders and was reliant on the drug tramadol.
The situation was not a case of her being totally self-centred, but of something inside her driving her, and once she had started the offending it soon became a "slippery slope" to inevitable capture, he said.
It was not just a pure greed situation, as some of the money would have been spent on her family, and consideration should be given to O'Dowda's young child, who would be without a mother in the case of a prison term.
This was a tragedy for O'Dowda, her family, friends, employers and colleagues, he said.
He recommended home detention would be an appropriate sentence as O'Dowda was receiving psychiatric care, had good family support and the support of her former husband.
Judge O'Driscoll said while he did not think O'Dowda was likely to re-offend, making less the need for specific deterrence, there was still a need for general deterrence to stop others offending in the same way.
Aggravating her offending was the extent of it and the amount of money involved, the degrees of premeditation, persistency and sophistication involved, the duration of her offending, that she had spent the bulk of the money on luxury items rather than things that were needed, the breach of trust involved and the impact on her employer and former colleagues.
From a starting point of four years' imprisonment, he gave 18 months' credit for her early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions, her remorse, her co-operation and medical situation.
However, because she had come to court without any means of repaying any of the money owed to the bank, he was unable to give her enough credit to bring her sentence under the two-year mark, where a sentence of home-detention could have been considered.
No order for reparation was made.
