Spending on card ‘snowballed’

A man’s ‘‘habit’’ of personal spending on his company credit card started with a load of groceries and ‘‘snowballed’’ from there, a court has heard.

Craig Everit Payne, 45, was employed by Constellation Brands as a vineyard block manager in Marlborough, and racked up a bill of $46,947 in personal expenses on his work credit card.

He was issued a Westpac Mastercard by the company which was to be used for business related expenses, a police summary of facts said.

From September 2017 to January 2019, Payne used the card for ‘‘personal gain’’ on 570 different occasions, the summary said.

Payne pleaded guilty to a representative charge of using a document for a pecuniary advantage at the Blenheim District Court on February 25.

At sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Zohrab said Payne was convicted of a ‘‘similar’’ offending in 2005 which also involved a ‘‘gross breach of trust’’.

At the time, the NZ Herald reported Payne was working as a funeral home director in Hamilton when he swindled his business partners out of tens of thousands of dollars to fuel his gambling addiction.

His lawyer John Holdaway said Payne had paid full reparation, after his family stumped up the money.

Holdaway called for a community based sentence, saying Payne was keen for the situation to be resolved.

Judge Tony Zohrab said Payne had been ‘‘upfront and honest’’ about the offending.

‘‘One day you used the credit card to pick up some groceries and it just snowballed from there,’’ he said.

From groceries, his spending extended to cafes, car maintenance, and supporting his family.

According to the probation report, Payne had felt guilty from the beginning and acknowledged that he let people down.

But Judge Zohrab said Payne’s culpability, or fault, was high because of the number of times he stole.

‘‘It effectively became premeditated after the first occasion and it went over a significant period of time.’’

Payne was sentenced to six months community detention and 120 hours of community work.

Judge Zohrab said that the words ‘‘final warning’’ had been put on his record, and the only possible response to similar offending would be a prison sentence.

AP Vineyard manager Craig Everit Payne, 45, spent thousands of dollars in personal expenses on his company card.