A South Island employee who stole trading cards from his workplace has had his sentencing delayed because he wants his collection back.

The man, aged in his 20s, appeared in the Dunedin District Court for sentence on Thursday after earlier admitting a charge of theft in a special relationship.

The man was caught on CCTV stealing at least $20,000 worth of trading cards from the shop he worked at and went on to sell the most valuable cards online.

He was set to advance an application for a discharge without conviction and final name suppression, but an issue arose when his lawyer said the man wanted his “legitimate” cards back.

He had handed over his “entire collection” of trading cards to police after he was given legal advice to do so and they remained in the police possession.

That raised an issue for Judge David Robinson about which cards in police possession were legitimate and which were stolen.

The defendant said some cards were not from the store he worked at and he had video or photo proof of owning some cards before he worked there.

Police were of the view that cards should be returned to the employer, because the $20,000 reparation sought was only for cards which the defendant had sold.

Judge Robinson adjourned sentencing “at the risk of me ordering costs against police for wasting my time”.

“I am distinctly unhappy with the way in which the matter has been conducted,” the judge said.

The defendant’s sentencing was adjourned to November.

CCTV captured the defendant removing trading cards from packs and taking food and drink without paying between February 21 and March 21 last year, a police summary said.

During his shift at the South Island store he would open trading card packets, stashing cards he wanted in a ‘‘personal pile’’ next to the counter and binning the rest along with the packaging.

At the end of the day, the employee took the cards with him without paying for the packs and sold the valuable cards online.

On multiple occasions, the defendant also falsely processed items as cash transactions when they had not been paid for, the police summary said.

A stocktake revealed there were missing Pokemon and One Piece trading cards as well as other trading card booster packs.

The total value of the missing stock was still being confirmed, but police alleged it was over $20,000. A person connected to the case summed up the situation as ‘‘pretty crap’’.

The guilty plea was inevitable given the ‘‘mountain of evidence’’ but they now wanted to see ‘‘appropriate punishment’’, the source said.

The source understood the defendant had not repaid the money or apologised to the owner. ‘‘He has not shown, not even remotely, even a sliver of any remorse or apologetic behaviour,’’ they said.

They were opposed to the man being discharged without conviction, especially if it paved the way for him to pursue his desired high-trust career.

‘‘We don’t want to see anybody else get in that same position.’’