"Be brave!" Alan Paul Jones, 62, instructed his colleague as he implored her in text messages to take zopiclone sleeping medication for him.
"Open the door and wait for a few seconds, if no-one comes in just grab them from the cupboard and no-one will be the wiser xx"
Jones appeared in the Invercargill District Court last month after earlier admitting to four charges of stealing drugs and two of burglary.
He had been a registered nurse since 2016. As part of his duties he had access to the drug room, locked drug cabinets and safes.
He was responsible for dispensing medication to patients.
The court heard that between May and August last year, Jones coerced his colleague into stealing zopiclone from restricted areas at Southland Hospital.
He referred to the drug as "mother’s helpers".
On one occasion Jones texted the woman: "I don’t care how many people you have to kill but don’t forget my mothers helpers today!"
Jones told his colleague he was "going through hell" and relied on the drug to help him sleep.
The woman successfully took zopiclone and delivered the drug to the defendant on multiple occasions, but the amount taken was unknown.
"I have to say that rather surprises me and tells me that there is something not quite right about the way in which the hospital records the use of drugs", Judge Duncan Harvey said.
After his employment ended, Jones visited the hospital and took the opportunity to access the locked cupboards using a pin and take an unknown amount of zopiclone.
When spoken to by police, the defendant admitted the offending and said for years he had struggled with sleep, which affected his ability to think straight and function.
"This has been a serious breach of trust that is very disappointing to all of our Southland Hospital staff and management", hospital general manager Simon Donlevy said.
"We want to reassure our staff and community that we have processes in place to detect an incident like this and it’s not something that we tolerate."
Mr Donlevy said it was a very rare incident and the hospital took it seriously by alerting police.
At an earlier hearing, counsel Sonia Vidal said the offending was "hugely self-destructive behaviour".
"His whole life has been his job", she said.
"The punishment that this man is suffering ... is huge already."
She said the amount of stress health professionals were under had widely affected staff.
Judge Harvey noted that Jones’ conviction would bring the nurse’s career to an end.
"I do have a fair bit of sympathy for you", the judge said.
"You have been a nurse for many, many years and you have provided a desperately needed service both to the hospital, in particular, but your patients in general."
Jones had name suppression until sentencing when the application to make the order final was declined.
Judge Harvey said while the defendant was "not well", suppressing his name could bring other hospital staff under suspicion.
The court heard the defendant planned to head back to the United Kingdom to continue working on his health.
The maximum penalty for the stealing drugs and burglary charges are seven years’ and 10 years’ imprisonment respectively.
Jones was fined $2500 and court costs of $130.
felicity.dear@odt.co.nz , PIJF court reporter
