A Sydenham woman has been jailed for three months for stealing $80,000 in six months from her employer to pay for her drug and gambling addictions.
Fiona Catherine Stevens pleaded guilty in the County Court last month to seven charges of theft.
A sentencing hearing on September 16 heard Stevens began stealing off her then employer the day after she was employed as a payroll manager on January 13 last year.
Stevens transferred a total of $172,173.83 over a six-month period involving 55 individual transfers to a personal account. The biggest transfer, on July 6, was for $23,579.
The court heard Stevens began gambling, and using ice on a daily basis last year and lost about $40,000 on the pokies during the period of her employment.
Her thefts were eventually reported to police on July 15 last year – the same day she was sacked.
Justice Susan Cohen said Stevens’ actions were a “flagrant breach” of trust.
“Some amounts were redirected by you to the suppliers or employees to whom the payments were meant to be paid,” she said.
Justice Cohen said the prosecution accepted, as an estimate, Stevens gained about $80,000 for her own use.”
