A Hastings lawyer who stole almost $80,000 from clients during the latter years of a three-decade legal career in Hawke's Bay has been sentenced to six months home detention.
David Porteous appeared before Judge Stan Thorburn in the Napier District Court this morning after pleading guilty to two representative charges of theft by a person in a special relationship earlier this year.
Judge Thorburn described the situation as a "sad case".
"It seems to me this is a man who got in a vortex of dishonesty which, as dishonesty does, compounded and drove him into the dilemma of continuing to make bad choices."
Represented by defence counsel Mathew Phelps the court heard Porteous had "lost everything" and was now bankrupt and living in a rental property with his son in Raureka where he will spend the next six months.