Plumbing fraudster jailed

A woman who was accused of stealing more than $1.4 million from a plumbing supply company has been jailed for 41⁄ years.

Suzanne Marie Davies, 60, was found guilty of 299 charges of theft from her employer, Tawa Plumbing Warehouse, and using her employer’s cheques to gain a financial advantage.

Wellington District Court judge David Ongley said on December 18 she had worked for the company for more than 20 years and had previously been loyal. But then she began paying company cheques into her own bank account.

The Crown alleged more than $1.4m had been involved, but the judge said some reimbursements had been made and he accepted the figure of $900,000 was the loss he would sentence over.

He ordered her to make reparation of $31,750 within a month.

The judge said there was a growing perception of unfair treatment and with it a developing spending addiction between 2008 and 2012, when the offending was discovered.

‘‘Your spending got out of control,’’ he said.

Davies had been assessed by an addiction specialist as being in a compulsive and addictive cycle.

She had claimed she was authorised to make payments, sometimes from her personal accounts and to get reimbursed.

The judge said if it was true she would have been entitled to $30,000 a month and that was inconceivable.

The judge said she had been plundering company money and the vast majority of spending was personal. He said it was personal and capricious.

Her lawyer, John Dean, said she was under significant work stress, depressed, and had a deteriorating mental state and a shopping addiction.

It was a significant fall from grace for Davies.