KEY POINTS:
A former bank teller who stole $135,000 has been sentenced to nine months' home detention and ordered to repay every penny.
Shelley Anne Williamson, 24, who had worked at the BNZ in Wanaka, appeared for sentence in Queenstown District Court yesterday.
Last month she pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and a dangerous driving charge.
Between May 2006 and September this year Williamson had plundered two inactive accounts of clients widely known to be dying as well as skimming money off foreign exchange transactions, The Southland Times reported.
Defence lawyer Nic Soper said Williamson was distraught and had countless regrets over her actions.
The intelligent, well-liked South African-born woman, who was voted BNZ Australasia teller of the year, masked serious emotional problems triggered by teenage trauma, he said.
But in a victim impact report Wanaka branch manager Penny Ford said she felt Williamson "played a game with her" after her the theft was discovered.
Mrs Ford said Williamson had forced her to witness a suicide attempt when she left and accelerated into an oncoming vehicle in which Timaru couple Sean and Amanda Cleverley were travelling on State Highway 6. No one was injured.
Williamson had caused enormous distress to her family, work colleagues and unwitting boyfriend, Judge Kevin Phillips said.
Williamson was also convicted of careless driving on September 22, and sentenced to 180 hours' community work and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
The Otago Daily Times reported that Williamson sat hunched and crying in the dock.
Crown prosecutor Sarah McKenzie sought two years' imprisonment for the three theft charges and dangerous driving charge, but Judge Phillips said home detention was the usual penalty in similar cases.
- NZPA
