A Blenheim businessman is furious his former employee has got off lightly for stealing more than $40,000 from his business.
"She went for a two-week holiday to Fiji at a five-star resort [over Christmas last year] on my money," Rod Thompson said yesterday after Karen Vunisa was sentenced in the Blenheim District Court.
"I spent a week in Christchurch with my brother-in-law."
He rejected a suggestion Vunisa took the money to feed a shopping addiction, saying she just wanted to live the good life.
Mr Thompson owns Marlborough TV Services, where Vunisa worked for eight years.
He bought the business four years ago and believes Vunisa started stealing after she got married about two years ago.
An accountant had checked the books in December and noticed the business had not been making any money.
Vunisa's stealing had almost sent the business under, Mr Thompson said.
While she had been convicted of stealing more than $40,000, she had not been sent to jail and had been ordered to repay only $15,000.
The judge said it was not realistic to make her pay more reparation, adding that Mr Thompson could take Vunisa to civil court to recoup the rest.
Mr Thompson said police had told him to think of the worst but hope for the best.
"This was my worst case scenario," he said.
"All I wanted was my money back and I didn't get it so, really, she won."
Vunisa was in charge of the daily running of the business and took the money by diverting it into her own bank account on 103 occasions.
"I trusted her as a friend. She even came to my wedding.
"The worst thing is that she could come to work and lie to my face like nothing was happening," Mr Thompson said.
He planned to take civil court action to recoup the remaining $25,000.
On top of the $15,000 reparation, Vunisa was sentenced to six months' home detention and 250 hours' community work.
She was also sentenced to two months' home detention, to run concurrently, for charging two items to the company without authority.
Mr Thompson said Vunisa was a "bad apple" but it did not change the way he saw people in general.
"I was way too trusting."
He takes care of business payments himself these days and said he would do police checks before hiring any new staff.
By Simon Wong - The Marlborough Express
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