Stole $2900 from employer

A British woman pleaded guilty in the Queenstown District Court yesterday to stealing $2900 in cash from Queenstown eatery Fergbaker.

Neetal Dandgey (25) will be sentenced next month.

Prosecuting Sergeant Ian Collin said Dandgey began working at the bakery - a sister business to Fergburger - as a cashier and sales assistant last June.

From early January, staff began noticing cash discrepancies of between $60 and $100 a week.

After Dandgey was given responsibility for placing cash and till receipts in a safe for banking the next day, the discrepancies increased.

An investigation by Dandgey's supervisor found that large cash discrepancies did not occur on days the defendant was not working.

When her shift was changed, they occurred on her new shift and not in her previous one.

When police interviewed the defendant on March 5, she said she had taken $30 cash and some tip money, but later admitted to taking $500 during the previous five or six weeks.

She told police she had been ''worried about finances'' because she was planning to return to the United Kingdom, Sgt Collins said.

At yesterday's hearing, Dandgey accepted she had taken a total of $2900. Her lawyer, Liam Collins, said $1814.49 could be repaid from holiday and back pay owing, with the balance payable with a lump sum.

Judge Tony Couch adjourned the hearing and remanded Dandgey on bail until April 13, ordering restorative justice to be investigated.

When Mr Collins asked why restorative justice was necessary, Judge Couch replied he had ''absolutely no discretion in the matter''.

''It imposes an enormous burden on the courts with this churn, but it's not my decision, it's Parliament's decision.''

 

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