The sentencing of a former Hastings Sports Centre manager who admitted years of stealing from her employers by manipulating an under-the-table payment scheme for cleaning and transport services has been delayed another six months by claims the returns were just a fraction of the $530,000 alleged.
The disagreement by defendant Opal Taylor, 60, will now be handled in a disputed facts hearing on May 14 next year, Judge Geoff Rea decided in Napier District Court on Wednesday.
Taylor had in September pleaded guilty to 14 charges relating to 195 invoices filed to employers the Hastings District Council for services purported to have been provided by a cleaner named Margaret and a driver named Eric over about 13 years until the rort was uncovered earlier this year.
A cleaner was interviewed during the inquiry and was said to have been paid $14 an hour under-the-table, something less than the amount invoiced.
Taylor was said to have pocketed the difference, defence counsel Bill Calver saying in court in September that the council did receive cleaning and transportation services, but while illegitimate the payments were "fraction" of the amount claimed in the charges.
