Home detention for thief

A serial thief has been ordered to get her life back on track, but not before she serves 10 months’ home detention. Tama Karepa was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on Monday, facing charges of theft, shoplifting and fraud. Judge Gerard Lynch said Karepa’s offending was ‘‘part and parcel’’ of a woman who had lost her way and was addicted to stealing. She was under significant financial stress when she entered Cash Converters on Main St, on April 13, the court heard. She had somehow managed to obtain a key that could open the store’s phone cabinet, from which she stole an iphone 8. Later that week, Karepa was shopping at Countdown, where a member of the public dropped their wallet at the checkout. She picked it up, made no effort to return it and used a credit card to pay for a $20 Vodafone prepaid card. In the third incident, she used receipts to return items from Harvey Norman that she hadn’t bought. She went into the store with the receipts, took the items off the shelves and reported them as faulty in a bid to have them replaced. Lynch said she was at high risk of reoffending through dishonesty and, if brought before the court again, would likely be jailed. ‘‘That isn’t a surprise,’’ he said. ‘‘You know you’re at the end of a line today. ‘‘I need to make it crystal clear. If you need to be resentenced, and I hope you don’t, it will be [imprisonment].’’ Lynch ordered Karepa not to take alcohol and drugs, and continue with a rehabilitation programme.