Travellers duped by thief

A former Geraldine woman who overcharged customers as part of a $13,600 theft through a Timaru travel business said, when caught, ‘‘it is not easy living on the bones of your a...’’.

Jayne Helen Johnston, 48, who now lives in Mid Canterbury, failed to get final name suppression when she appeared in the Timaru District Court on Tuesday for sentencing on one representative charge of accessing an eftpos machine to dishonestly obtain $13,683.90 between July 1, 2014, and July 31, 2019.

Judge Tom Gilbert noted the case put for name suppression by Johnston’s lawyer, Paul Norcross, who argued there would likely be extreme hardship to her, her husband and parents, along with the fact they live in a small community and were concerned they could be ostracised from that community.

However, Judge Gilbert said permanent name suppression had a very high threshold and said the reasons fell well short.

‘‘I appreciate publication will be unwelcome.’’

Judge Gilbert, who suppressed the name of the Ashburton business Johnston works for, said an employer had the right to know what she had done in the past, so they could assess her suitability for the current role, and he hoped it would be looked on favourably.

‘‘I think it is fair enough they know you have been significantly dishonest with customers’ funds in the past.’’ Judge Gilbert said Johnston had worked for House of Travel from 2013 to 2019 and was responsible for booking travel and accommodation for customers.

‘‘Between 2014 and 2019 you dishonestly accessed the eftpos terminal to refund money to your personal account.

‘‘You purposely overcharged customers for flights and holidays, and also advised cancellations for travel items were non-refundable.

‘‘You then claimed the refund from the supplier and used the company’s eftpos terminal to refund yourself.’’

Judge Gilbert said a ‘‘very time-consuming and expensive investigation’’ had showed the terminal was used 38 times ‘‘in this way’’ totalling $13,683.90.

‘‘When I look at that, it is serious offending.

‘‘These are many, many instances of dishonesty. I presume there are many, many victims who were duped.

‘‘The offending itself was obviously very premeditated and represents a substantial breach of trust, not just to the employer, but for customers as well. The period of time is substantial and the loss is reasonably significant.’’

Judge Gilbert said there was no obvious reason for the offending, although it was frankly admitted.

‘‘While I acknowledge it is not easy living on limited income, when compared with some people I see in this court, [you are] not nearly as badly off.’’

He disagreed with the pre-sentence report recommendation of community work and reparation, saying it was ‘‘completely inadequate’’ for offending of this nature with the aggravating feature being it was serious offending over a long period of time.

Judge Gilbert said he was stepping back from a jail term after taking into account personal circumstances, an early guilty plea and the fact Johnston was ‘‘hopefully in a position to repay’’ the money when a house is sold in Timaru.

Johnston received four months of community detention (7pm-6am curfew), 100 hours of community work and reparation was ordered at $50 per week with a one-off repayment when the house sells.