KEY POINTS:
Customers of Christchurch firm All About Concrete have been left $30,650 out of pocket by the gambling habit of its owner, Neil George Thomas.
He gambled away the deposits paid by clients who wanted him to seal their driveways and paths without doing the work.
Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen Erber warned Thomas yesterday he was likely to go to jail.
Thomas, 38 and now unemployed, pleaded guilty to 11 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship. They relate to deposits paid ranging from $750 to $7000.
Thomas had been operating All About Concrete as a sole trader for about six months, advertising in the Yellow Pages and in community newspapers.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Brocas said Thomas would supply free quotes and once they were accepted he would seek a deposit of about 50 per cent.
"According to the defendant, this was to secure the booking, as well as pay for the supplies needed to carry out the job.
"The client would also be given a start date. Although not a rule in the industry, this is acceptable practice."
Thomas asked for the deposits as either cash or a cheque which would often be cashed quickly.
After that the complainants had little or no contact from him. He would fail to turn up to do the job, and when the clients left messages on his home phone he would not return them.
Mr Brocas said Thomas told police that when he got a deposit he would gamble it on poker machines and then had nothing to buy the supplies he needed.
Judge Erber remanded Thomas for a Crown sentencing session on March 9.
- NZPA