Victoria Leigh Mullany was sentenced by Judge Bridget Mackintosh in the Dunedin District Court yesterday for stealing $305,775 from Cadbury Ltd, Dunedin.
Mullany (34), unemployed, had admitted five indictably laid charges of theft arising from a recent audit which showed she had stolen nearly 50% of the cash takings of Cadbury's on-site staff confectionery shop since 2008.
Mullany began working for Cadbury in 2002 and held the position of administration team leader from 2006 until earlier this year.
Her duties included keeping a record book of confectionery sales to staff through the on-site staff shop. She was also responsible for banking the money.
But she falsified entries in her cash book, showing less cash than was received, and kept the difference.
To avoid detection, she told the shop manager not to keep any records of the shop sales.
After writing up the cash book, she destroyed the cash register tapes and daily sales record sheets so the cash book balanced with the banking records.
However, the shop manager felt uneasy when told not to keep any records and kept copies of sales sheets and till tapes without Mullany's knowledge.
In an audit of shop sales, it was discovered Mullany had taken nearly 50% of the cash takings on various dates between July 28, 2008, and February 22 this year. The total money stolen was $305,775.
Crown counsel Robin Bates submitted two and a-half to three years' jail was appropriate. While the offending was not particularly sophisticated, it was premeditated and over a significant period of time.
It involved a significant amount and a significant breach of trust, he said.
Counsel Sally McMillan said Mullany had paid $93,000 reparation and written letters of apology.
The theme of presentence, restorative justice and other material was Mullany was a person of fundamentally good character, who had made a mistake.
"She recognises she has to pay the price." Mullany had sought and gained insight into why, as a middle-class mother with a good job, she had committed the offending. She had felt personal inadequacy from her marriage break-up.
At the time, she did not recognise she was depressed and getting more depressed by the month. Guilt about the offending compounded her mental health problems.
"The only thing worse than being caught was not being caught." The money was not spent on drugs, alcohol, gambling, a flash house or car, but in the main on her son and some other children, Ms McMillan said.
"She accepts she had no right to steal money to feed her need to love and be loved."
Cadbury accepted Mullany's apology, acknowledged her as a hard-working person and encouraged her to look positively to the future, Ms McMillan submitted.
Asking the court to consider a sentence of home detention, she said while it was squarely acknowledged imprisonment was an appropriate starting point, it would be particularly severe "in this particular case".
Home detention would enable Mullany to continue the rehabilitative work she had started in regard to herself and her family.
Judge Mackintosh said it was stated in an affidavit Mullany spent the money providing her son and the other children a certain lifestyle including toys and holidays.
Mullany had also spent some money on herself to enhance her appearance and create a better image. On one hand, she was a caring and generous person.
"But you were generous with money that was not yours," the judge told her.
Aggravating features included the large amount of money stolen, premeditation - "you knew what you were doing" - stress to a co-worker, the breach of trust and the effect on the company.
In mitigation, Mullany had paid $93,000 reparation and had shown additional remorse "other than simply pleading guilty and owning up to what you've done".
There was also her previous good character.
The $93,000 was a full and final payment. Cadbury was not seeking any further reparation, the judge noted.
Home detention was not appropriate for "offending of this magnitude", the judge said.
Cadbury, when approached, declined to comment.
