Courier supervisor stole Apple products

PACKAGES TAKEN: Former Blenheim NZ Courier supervisor Bronwyn Te Puawaitana King pleaded guilty to theft. PHOTO/FILE

Failing to scan Apple products, making the packages untraceable for staff, a New Zealand Courier supervisor then stole the products on-selling some and keeping others for herself.

Former Blenheim NZ Courier supervisor and mother-of-three, Bronwyn Te Puawaitana King, appeared before Judge Barbara Morris in Masterton District Court on Thursday pleading guilty to theft.

The court heard the 39-year-old was supervisor for the national courier service, based in Blenheim when the theft occurred earlier this year.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Garry Wilson said King, now of Masterton, had identified which packages coming through for delivery were Apple products.

She failed to scan them, making the packages untraceable through the company, keeping some of the stolen iPhones, iPod and iPad products for herself, on-selling others, Mr Wilson said.

Defence lawyer Jock Blathwayt said during the period of her offending, his client, now unemployed, had been under considerable "psychological stress".

She had helped investigators work out how she had stolen the products, he said in submission.

"Her son was depressed ... she couldn't resist taking the items ... she accepted responsibility."

During sentencing, Judge Morris said King had been in a position of responsibility and trust by her employer and she breached that trust.

However, the offending was "out of character" for King who had no previous convictions, the judge said.

The stress culminated in King dealing with her son taking his own life in March, which probably contributed to the offending, she said.

"You were under severe stress financially and emotionally."

King had already paid most of the reparation, about $2000 to her employer.

Judge Morris sentenced King to 80 hours' community work and to pay $920 in reparation.