Kerre Woodham: Bryers' victims deserved better

Mark Bryers. Photo / Jason Dorday

Wow. Seventy-five hours of community service and a $37,000 fine for Blue Chip founder, Mark Bryers.

Well, a $37,470 fine, to be strictly accurate, but what the heck.

Bryers has never been one to be strictly accurate with the numbers, now, has he? That's why he pleaded guilty to 34 charges of failing to complete financial statements in relation to the running of the Blue Chip group.

What dry words and what a brief sentence to sum up the devastation he has caused.

My colleague at NewstalkZB who covered the court case said it was awful to witness the shock of the mostly elderly victims of Bryers' incompetence.

She said many of them had lost their homes and their life savings because of their faith in Bryers and they had been ruined as a result.

They came to court to see justice done. They are old school, these men and women.

That's why they believed the nice young men who told them their modest, freehold homes could be transformed into an investment that would guarantee they would never have to worry about hospital waiting lists or rest home fees or the grandkids' uni fees ever again.

And that's why they believed that when things turned to custard and they were left with nothing, justice would be done.

In their world, if you do something that causes another person pain or distress, you put it right. And if you don't have the gumption to do the right thing, the justice system will step in and take over and balance up the ledger.

The fact that the judge either chose not to or our legal system doesn't allow for white-collar criminals to be punished effectively, has distressed Bryers' victims yet again.

With no hope of regaining their savings, they will have to depend on their families and the state for help and hand outs.

Bryers has behaved appallingly. In many cases, white-collar crime is just as devastating as crimes of violence. The judges need to get tougher or the penalties for crimes like these need increasing.

Either way, the victims of the Blue Chip fiasco deserved better than the pathetic sentence that was handed out to Bryers.