Sandra Joy Kennedy (48) was, until March this year, an accounts assistant at Dunedin-based PS Marketing South Island Ltd. Between May 2013 and March 17, she cashed 44 company cheques without authority, in the process fabricating letters from customers about returning products and asking for refunds.
By this method, she stole just under $23,000 from her employer, going as far as accessing the company's computer accounting system to change spreadsheets to hide what she had done.
Anomalies were noticed in the system in March and inquiries led to Kennedy being arrested and charged. She pleaded guilty in the Dunedin District Court in August to charges of causing a $22,978 loss to PS Marketing by deception and directly accessing the company's computer accounting system, thereby causing a loss.
The company owner was "devastated'' by what Kennedy had done and the huge breach of trust involved, Judge John Macdonald said yesterday.
The victim was upset the defendant had lied and other employees had been placed under suspicion. A second person in the company was upset, not only about the actual loss, but about the amount of time spent trying to work out what had happened. That victim expressed disbelief and anger about what Kennedy had done and sorrow for the other employees who had been lied to, the judge said.
Crown counsel Robin Bates said the company was a small business and the complainant had been left "out of pocket''.
While the Crown accepted the level of the theft was within the area where home detention could be an option, the term should be significant, given the nature of the offending, the amount taken and the fact Kennedy had previous convictions for dishonesty, Mr Bates said.
Defence counsel Garth Cameron said the defendant knew prison was a real possibility. But she said she had been a victim over time and did not want to be a victim again.
Her explanation for the offending was it resulted from threats from another person.
The aggravating factors were the premeditation and reasonably lengthy time involved, the significant amount stolen with little prospect of repayment, the substantial breach of trust and the effect on the owners of the business, Judge Macdonald said.
Kennedy had previous convictions for dishonesty. He would have thought she would have had the opportunity to disclose that when the company decided not to do a police check, the judge said.
While the defendant's explanation was the offending had been driven by threats from another person, and it was suggested she had paid $18,000 to that person, benefiting herself only to the tune of $5000, there was little to support that explanation.
The only mitigating factor was her guilty plea, although that was somewhat delayed, Judge Macdonald told Kennedy. She was already paying off fines of $6500 at $26 a week but accepted a reparation order should be made, payment to be in terms of the existing arrangement.
It was "not ideal'', but was the best that could be offered, the judge said.
Taking a starting point of 15 months' jail, with a three-month uplift for the previous convictions, then allowing a 20% deduction for the guilty plea, Judge Macdonald said a term of 14 months' jail would be appropriate. But he agreed the end sentence should be a combination of home detention, community work and reparation.
On the dishonesty charges, Kennedy was sentenced to concurrent terms of six months' home detention with special conditions, 200 hours' community work and reparation of $22,978.
For failing to appear in court on bail on July 11, which was accepted as "an oversight'', she was convicted and discharged.
