Melanie Tyrelle Anderson sold the family car and borrowed from relatives to repay in full some $62,000 stolen from two Invercargill businesses, earning on appeal to the High Court a twenty per cent reduction in her home detention sentence.
While working as an accounts clerk at Gracetek Communications and Eden Haulage, Anderson took wages in excess of what she was entitled and also created fictitious invoices to transfer money into her own bank account; stealing some $25,500 from one company, $36,800 from the other.
She pleaded guilty to theft, but only after initially denying any money was taken. Nearly $14,000 was spent by the two businesses in forensic accounting fees identifying extent of the frauds.
Anderson said her sentence of nine months home detention was excessive. Before sentencing she had repaid all the money stolen and also compensated her former employers for their forensic accounting costs.
The High Court was told money for reparations came from sale of her family’s vehicles plus loans provided by two family members. She was paying these loans off at $500 per week, working at the local freezing works.
Justice Dunningham ruled insufficient credit had been given for the full reparations paid. The sentence of home detention was reduced to seven months.
Offenders on home detention are permitted to continue in paid employment, under Probation Service oversight.
Anderson v. Police – High Court (21.09.23)
23.165