Jamie Black from Sportcraft Marine was the victim of a $350,000 fraud by the company's office manager. Photo/Andrew Warner
Jamie Black from Sportcraft Marine was the victim of a $350,000 fraud by the company's office manager. Photo/Andrew Warner
Dionne Michelle Guinness continued to write herself fraudulent cheques for tens of thousands of dollars even as her boss was forced to lay off two other staff and his business came close to folding.
"Spotty", as she was known, worked as an office assistant for Sportcraft Marine at Mt Maunganui, helping herself to more than $350,000 of the company's money between 2010 and 2014.
"Whenever there was a problem, there was always an answer," Sportcraft owner Jamie Black says.
"She always came up with a story."
Says Black's wife, Violet: "She was the friendliest, bubbliest person. We trusted her and when we found out, we were just shocked. As soon as we started looking into it, it was like opening a Pandora's Box."
At the time the Blacks said the fraud had come close to crippling the business and destroying their marriage.
Dionne Guinness, who defrauded her employer Sports Marine Ltd of $372,000 over a five-year period. Photo/file
Speaking at the Sportcraft Marine office this week, the couple said the stress of the fraud caused fights at home and also took a toll on their 10-year-old daughter.
"You do go through all those emotions. You can't not take it home."
They have endured many sleepless nights since Guinness was discovered in August last year and Jamie Black has suffered an increase in pain in his left arm, which was badly damaged when nerves in his spinal cord were severed in a water-skiing accident 13 years ago.
He has also found it hard dealing with reaction from some people who said Guinness obviously committed the fraud because she was underpaid.
"People perceive that the criminal is actually the victim in this type of crime. They don't when someone does a robbery."
The Blacks believe Guinness' two-and-a-half-year prison sentence is not an adequate deterrent, saying she deserves at least four years. They say she was "very cunning", carrying out the thefts despite having no signing authority for Sportcraft Marine.
The 42-year-old had helped herself to a company chequebook, forging Black's signature on more than $60,000 worth of cheques, as well as overpaying her wages by $40,000, depositing a customer cheque into her own account, and making direct credits to herself from the company account.
But if you don't stop it, you're really guilty of the next person being ripped off. We don't want anyone else to be had by her.
She had also used Sportcraft money to overpay her Kiwisaver and for a student loan.
Black says Guinness took advantage of the fact Sportcraft traded in large amounts for boats and outboard motors, and is by nature a business with large fluctuations in cashflow.
When she was discovered falsifying a GST return, the Blacks had gone straight to police. They have spent the months since unravelling her elaborate web of fraudulent transactions - a process Black says has been gruelling in itself.
"It takes a lot of commitment to stand up and push it through the channels as opposed to wiping it under the rug.
"But if you don't stop it, you're really guilty of the next person being ripped off. We don't want anyone else to be had by her."
Violet Black is now more involved in the business and the couple said there has been "a huge difference in cashflow" since Guinness left.
The accounts are now split between Violet Black and a new office person, and the Blacks say they have come out the other side thanks to the support of their staff, customers and suppliers.
They refuse to be bitter, saying that would mean Guinness had won, but Jamie Black admits the fraud has made him less trusting of employees.
"There's no way you can't be but I don't want it to turn us from being a family-oriented business to a business with rigid structure that doesn't allow for the human factor.
