Judge declines reparation after worker steals 88 iPhones and a laptop
A Wellington woman was sentenced to 10 months of home detention for stealing 88 iPhones and a laptop worth $158,000 from her employer. The judge denied her request for a discharge without conviction, noting that the severity of the crime outweighed the potential immigration consequences.
Why it matters
The case highlights the legal balance between individual circumstances, such as immigration status, and the gravity of white-collar criminal offenses.
After admitting to using her employer's account to order 88 iPhones and a laptop, the woman was sentenced in the Wellington District Court to 10 months' home detention.
A cash-strapped woman who felt the squeeze of financial and personal pressures used her employer’s account to order 88 iPhones and a laptop, together worth $158,000.
After her arrest last year, the woman, whose name is suppressed, admitted using the account to place 24 orders over 18 months. She said she later sold the resulting devices to two people.
She explained she’d placed the fictitious orders because she needed the money to help her family, who lived overseas, saying she regretted allowing financial and personal pressures to influence her judgment.
But in admitting a representative charge of theft of a person in a special relationship , the woman, who is in New Zealand on a temporary visa, jeopardised her immigration status.
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