A Napier man with no previous convictions has been sentenced to community detention and ordered to repay more than $20,000 he stole in hundreds of thefts from the petrol station that employed him for more than 10 years.
Appearing in Napier District Court last week was Nigel Francis Coles, 36, who had admitted a representative charge of theft in a special relationship, which Judge Bridget Mackintosh said had a maximum possible penalty of seven years' jail. The offences happened at Mobil Taradale between July 2014 and January this year by a creation of over 700 fictitious returns, for which he paid himself.
Defence counsel James Rainger, of the Public Defence Service, said Coles was extremely remorseful, and was determined to repay the money, but had lost his job as a result of the offending. In addition to the community detention, with 12-hour curfews, he was ordered by Judge Mackintosh to start repaying the money at $30 a week "at this stage", and to be under probationary supervision for six months, including taking budgeting advice.
