Fraudster ‘like a sister’ to victims
A VOLUNTEER who stole more than $38,000 abused the trust of vulnerable clients who thought of her like a sister, a judge said.
The budget advisory service worker, who has name suppression on medical grounds until sentencing, pleaded guilty to 20 charges in Masterton District Court yesterday.
One of her victims, Ron Warby, 84, said it was ‘‘despicable’’ that she betrayed the trust of the service’s clients, many of whom are disabled.
‘‘It’s abuse – it’s terrible. I’ve done a lot of volunteering work, money-raising things, I’ve sold raffle tickets for arthritis. And I never, ever thought of putting that money in my pocket.’’
The woman stole more than $6000 from Warby while he was a client of the service. Some had been repaid but he was still out of pocket by more than $2000, which he did not expect to get back. ‘‘You can say ta-ta to that . . . I’m pretty gutted.’’
With health problems restricting the retired printer’s mobility, and his wife dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, the couple reluctantly entrusted some of their finances to the budget service. ‘‘So I trusted her . . . and I got done, didn’t I.’’
He felt for the woman’s former co-workers, who had also been betrayed, he said. ‘‘They’re all volunteers, that’s the point. They’re a lovely lot, they do a great job.’’
The charges included 12 of theft by a person in a special relationship and eight of misusing cheques, between 2011 and 2014. The woman had earlier pleaded guilty to eight and not guilty to 12. However, she changed her plea before the judge-alone trial started and further charges were withdrawn.
The charges relate to a total of more than $54,000 she took from clients’ bank accounts, or by spending clients’ cheques on herself after being given them to pay their bills.
Some was later put back, meaning the actual loss to victims
‘I’ve done a lot of volunteering work . . . And I never, ever thought of putting that money in my pocket.’
Victim Ron Warby was $38,000. Of this, just over $10,000 had since been repaid.
Many of the woman’s victims and former co-workers were in the court’s public gallery.
Judge Peter Hobbs said their victim impact statements made for distressing reading. They had suffered a gross breach of trust by a woman they had seen as ‘‘almost like a sister’’. They felt betrayed, angry and upset, and had also suffered financial hardship as a result.
The judge convicted the woman on all the charges and remanded her on continued bail until October for sentencing, when her interim name suppression would lapse.
He said she would need to provide compelling medical evidence for the suppression to continue beyond that.