A woman who siphoned $750,000 from a former cafe owner is now behind bars, but Alexandra Purucker's money is gone forever.
Iris Huebler was the friend Purucker once revered, the bookkeeper she trusted to take charge of her affairs when she returned to Germany to care for her ailing family.
Huebler was today a pale, glum figure as she listened to her fate from a custody suite via video link to the Nelson District Court.
She was sentenced to four years in prison for the hundreds of thousands of dollars she eventually admitted taking from Purucker over the course of six years from April 2012 on the pretence she was investing on her behalf.
Huebler admitted 13 months ago to five charges of being a person in a special relationship, receiving money she had an obligation to manage.
Huebler - Purucker's friend and confidante had been taken on to help manage the books at a landmark Takaka café, the Dangerous Kitchen which Purucker owned from 2003 to 2010.
A fair portion of the funds now gone was money from the business and the proceeds of the sale, plus an inheritance from Purucker's family in Germany.
"Not only have I been robbed, but my late parents have been as well," she said.
Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber told the court today that Purucker had been the victim of lie after lie, after a complete lie about investments which were anything but.
He said the money had simply been taken from Purucker and then transferred to accounts held by Huebler and people who knew her.
Not only has Purucker been left penniless, and a beneficiary reliant for the first time on Winz payments, she's also been left with credit card debt of $14,500 as a result of Huebler's dishonesty.
"Iris had been in my life for 16 years; my most trusted friend who had been there with me when my older son died, when my parents died, when my dog died," Purucker said.
"She even continued the pretence of being my closest friend after having taken the money."
The amount Huebler eventually admitted having taken came to $750,000 but Purucker told Open Justice outside court the final tally of loss was closer to $1 million.
She said it was some comfort that justice had in a small part been served, and even though Huebler was ordered to pay $80,000 in reparation, she first had to sell a property in Golden Bay which was itself subject to complications over the share she owned.
"She'll come out of prison, and she's made a million," Purucker said.
"If you are a victim you are left to sit with the damage – you have no choice. You sit with that disaster.
"It's just been so hard," said the 69-year-old Berlin native who came to New Zealand in 1996, and who has lived alone in Golden Bay since her divorce in 2004.
Purucker, dressed finely in beige and pearls, read her victim impact statement in court today. It was a catharsis of years of hurt, grief and disbelief at the years of "evil deceit".
"Iris Huebler came to me recommended as a bookkeeper when I started Dangerous Kitchen and worked as such for seven years for me.
"She held a highly trusted position with signature rights for the various bank accounts," Purucker said.
After the business sold the pair remained friends.
When Purucker's mother had a stroke four and a half years ago, and her aunt began showing signs of Alzheimer's, she left for Germany to be by their side.
Huebler offered to look after Purucker's affairs at home in Takaka.
While she was overseas Huebler sent her a message to say she had been hacked and a couple of bank accounts had been frozen.
Purucker wasn't concerned as they were accounts she didn't need access to.
"Then when I came back she said, 'I've got bad news – I got hacked and all your money is gone – it's the Internet fraud of the century."
Purucker believed her.
"I said, 'Iris, I won't hold this against you. This is just money and you are my friend'."
It wasn't until Purucker, who described herself as not being savvy with internet banking, went into the local bank that she learned.
"The bank then told me, 'you haven't been hacked, you've been robbed'."
Purucker said she was stunned and had no idea where to turn until a friend advised her to lay a complaint with the police.
In October 2018, "matters blew up".
Webber said Huebler and her husband went as far as trying to "judgment-proof themselves" by purporting to separate; even signing a property-sharing agreement.
He said Huebler might have conveyed a sense of bewilderment and resentment at what had happened but it was "deliberate fraud".
Purucker said the trauma and shock manifested as severe anxiety and depression, and the onset of serious trust issues.
"Still my stomach is churning and my heart is aching. The dimension of betrayal is incomprehensible."
Purucker said it had also made her question her ability to judge her own decisions and trust herself.
She grieved over the loss of what was shaping up to be a comfortable retirement in "the winter of her life", in a home she had lovingly restored over 19 years, and which she was grateful to still have but now struggled to run.
At one point Purucker had considered giving Huebler power of attorney and putting her home in a trust.
She said it hadn't helped that many in the small Golden Bay community had turned against her, as a result of "lies and gossip" spread by Huebler.
Webber said the treatment to which Purucker had been subjected after the defendant said she was wrong in making the police complaint, was "appalling".
Defence lawyer Tim Spear said Huebler had also suffered a similar reaction from the community.
He said Huebler's actions were driven by something similar to a gambling addiction.
"She also feels as if she has had her community turned against her.
"Clearly there are no winners in this."
Huebler had tried vacating her guilty pleas, but Judge Ruth said the application was forlorn and without merit.
He was also critical of Huebler's choice to seek different legal representation when she had been well served by various legal counsel.
Her effort today to have Judge Ruth recuse himself on the grounds of alleged bias was met with stern disapproval.
"For you to come to court and suggest there's been a dereliction is outrageous," Judge Ruth said.
He said Huebler had from the start "re-arranged her affairs to avoid responsibility to pay the huge debt owed to the victim", whose life had been ruined.
"She came to court today and read her victim impact statement which shows me how much you have ruined her life, by your own greed.
"That's some friend."
Purucker said the past four years had been a "terrible wait" – a rollercoaster of emotion which on many occasions had left her "flat on her face".
She said not only had her money been stolen, but also her time, energy and lifestyle in what she said was to be a precious last chapter of her life.
"That is irreplaceable."
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