Former courier sentenced for stealing

A former courier driver who stole $7500 from three of his company’s customers has been sentenced to community work.

On Thursday, Walter James Marsh appeared in the New Plymouth District Court after he was found guilty of four charges of theft last month.

He went on trial before Judge Carolyn Henwood on April 17 after pleading not guilty to the offending and he maintained from the witness box that he had either lost the money or delivered it to the wrong person.

It was a position Judge Henwood found implausible, and after taking into account other evidence, she delivered her guilty verdicts on June 1.

Between September 2016 to April 2017, and while employed by Fastway, four parcels containing cash were picked up and handed to Marsh to deliver to the bank. In total, $7563.90 went missing on Marsh’s watch.

The victims left out of pocket were Inglewood Hammer Hardware, Just Tyres Ha¯wera and Kaponga Primary School.

Defence lawyer Nathan Bourke sought a community work sentence and said Marsh was back in fulltime employment so was able to pay the outstanding reparation.

Bourke said he understood the $796.90 owed to Kaponga Primary School, some of which included money raised by the students, had already been docked from Marsh’s wages from Fastway.

Judge Garry Barkle said despite Marsh’s denials at trial, he had since acknowledged his responsibility for the thefts and was remorseful about what happened.

The judge said the offending represented a breach of trust and had a ‘‘considerable impact’’ on the victims.

‘‘Each, in their different way, has been let down by you,’’ Judge Barkle told Marsh.

Despite concerns a community work sentence might disrupt Marsh’s new-found employment, the judge said it was necessary to impose a punitive aspect to the sentence.

He imposed a term of 120 hours along with an order directing the defendant to pay the outstanding reparation.