Gambling addiction can often lead to people accumulating significant debt or in some cases even engaging in unlawful actions. Such a gambling problem nearly landed a Kapiti, New Zealand woman in jail after she stole thousands of dollars from her employer.

That is the case of a 59-year-old woman identified with the initials S.A.R., who pleaded guilty to one charge of theft over her actions. As announced by the New Zealand Herald, the woman was recently sentenced to five months of community detention. The 59-year-old’s sentencing hearing was last week at the Hutt Valley District Court.

Judge Tania Warburton handed the sentence of the 59-year-old and spoke about the defendant’s actions. S.A.R. stole a sum close to NZ$317,000 ($189,120) while she was employed at SBA Civil Ltd, a civil engineering company. Judge Warburton explained that the stolen sum was “significant.”

However, the Judge also pointed to the defendant’s crippling gambling addiction that ultimately pushed her into the unlawful actions. “She found herself, unfortunately, in the grip of addiction that led to the offending. Your offending was bad, but I want to stress to you that you are not a bad person,” Judge Warburton said.

Initially, the 59-year-old woman was facing a four-year prison sentence. However, the Judge considered discounts in light of the woman’s remorse, the fact that she paid back in full the stolen sum and her guilty plea. In light of those discounts, S.A.R. now received five months of community detention.

Under her sentence, the woman needs to abide by a strict curfew between 7 PM and 7 AM. Besides repaying back the stolen sum in full, S.A.R. also paid back interest and the relevant court fees, factors that affected the outcome of her trial and her more lenient sentence.

Investigation Uncovers Dozens of Unauthorized Transactions

The 59-year-old Kapiti woman was brought to justice following an investigation that uncovered her unlawful actions. Between August 2022 and October 2023, she was employed at the engineering company.

In September 2023, one supplier requested payment from the company, and this is when it was uncovered that S.A.R. had sent the money to her personal bank account rather than the account of the supplier. Subsequently, SBA Civil Ltd investigated the matter further, discovering more than three dozen transactions completed by the 59-year-old. In total, the woman had completed nearly 40 transactions and each time, she sent money to her personal account.