A woman drained her friend’s bank account of nearly $7000 after she was entrusted to help him, a court has heard.
Keitha Louise Webb, 47, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose.
The court heard the defendant and her friend both lived in supported accommodation when the offending occurred.
Eventually, the victim shared his bank account details with the defendant.
After that, Webb transferred money to her account from the victim’s bank account.
She did this 42 times over seven months, taking $6658 in total.
The victim only realised this had happened when he had found he had insufficient funds to buy food.
Webb told police she was aware of the money coming into her account but claimed the victim was paying her back for a television.
The court heard the offending had a huge impact on the victim, who felt betrayed and was now short of money.
Counsel Jo Turner said her client could not explain why she took the money or what she spent it on.
Judge David Robinson deferred Webb’s sentence for 12 months and ordered her to pay reparation of $2600 at a rate of $10 a week for five years.
"I need you to learn from this. You can’t help yourself to other people’s stuff," Judge Robinson said.
