A care worker who withdrew almost $21,000 from an elderly client’s bank account to feed a gambling habit has been ordered to pay the money back.
Michelle Anne Stuart, 55, was also sentenced to six months of community detention and 12 months of supervision with a condition to undergo counselling for problem gambling.
Stuart appeared in the Napier District Court for sentencing on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a single charge of misusing the man’s bank card.
The court was told she was a support worker in the man’s home for several years. He was 83 when her offending was discovered, after he moved permanently to a rest home.