Business ripped off by trusted worker

Shane Hiroa took more than $120,000 but will only pay back $10,000

A financially-beleaguered Whangarei business laid off three staff and was two weeks away from closing down before a "sheer fluke" unearthed a sophisticated trail of fraud of nearly $129,000 by a senior employee.

Shane Hiroa, 45, falsified invoices and credit notes over four years at Hot Printz Screenprinting while he encouraged customers to either pay him cash or deposit money into bank accounts not related to the company.

His actions were directly responsible for three redundancies and forced company directors Bill and Gillian Armitt to take out a mortgage for $250,000 to prop up their business.

The theft of $128,900 contained in the police summary of facts was all that could be proved that Hiroa stole while working as sales manager.

Hiroa was yesterday sent to jail for three years in the Whangarei District Court after he earlier admitted four charges of theft by a person in a special relationship. Judge Greg Davis rejected a recommendation of home detention, saying Hiroa's offending appeared to be motivated by greed as he spent the stolen money on his lifestyle, including trips to Australia.

Judge Davis said although the victims estimated close to $250,000 had been stolen over four years, the full extent of Hiroa's offending couldn't be unearthed.

Six victim impact statements, including those from the Armitts, were read in court prior to sentencing.

Mr Armitt said he had been robbed of four years of his life, both financially and time spent with his family. "We were two weeks away from going out of business and not even knowing why but for a sheer fluke discovering the anomalies surrounding the use of credit notes after Shane left," Mr Armitt said.

"What we thought was the impact of the global recession was actually the deception, manipulation and avarice of a lying selfish man."

Mr Armitt said Hiroa was treated as "a family member" and that he loaned Hiroa his car for a year after the birth of his first child and again when his wife gave birth to their second child. The businessman said he paid for the maintenance and insurance of the car while Hiroa stole from his company.

Apart from being unable to offer pay rises to his staff for many years, he's spent a further $10,000 to rebuild the accounting system irreparably damaged by Hiroa's stealing. Three staff also had to be made redundant.

"His ways of stealing were many and varied. He deceived us, he deceived our customers and the impact and flow-on have been more significant than his selfishness will ever let him understand," Mr Armitt said.

"Shane watched me on his last day. My head in my hands, distraught at not knowing how I would pay my staff, and keep the business afloat. He went home on his last day with his pockets full of cash that belonged to the business and the honest people who work for it."

The theft was discovered after Mr Armitt called debtors to chase payment only to be told that money had either been paid in cash to Hiroa or deposited in bank accounts he recommended.

Judge Davis said quite how Hiroa's family didn't know he was living beyond his means was incomprehensible.

"I'd be interested to see the accounts where the money was going into. My suspicion is some of that [money] is still around."

Hiroa's offer of paying back $26,000 at $50 a week was "cold comfort" to the business owners, Judge Davis said. He ordered Hiroa to pay $10,000 in reparation after his release from prison.

Mr Armitt advised other businesses against doing cash deals due to the risk of fraud.