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A woman who defrauded the country's largest university of more than $600,000 has been jailed for 2 1/2 years - but given four weeks at home to say goodbye to her children first.
Former University of Auckland project manager Katherine Ann Henry yesterday appeared in Auckland District Court after admitting in August three charges of obtaining by deception, laid by the Serious Fraud Office.
Judge Philippa Cunningham described the amount the 37-year-old stole over three years as "just huge" and "staggering" and said it was too large for a sentence of home detention to apply.
She sent Henry to prison but in a relatively uncommon move allowed for a four-week deferral on humanitarian grounds so Henry could talk to her children and make care arrangements.
In an emotional scene, Henry went from the dock in tears to ask her upset family members for their advice on whether she should start the sentence immediately. "Shall I go now?" she asked repeatedly.
One of her male relatives answered: "You've got two little boys to think about."
Through her lawyer, John Gerard, Henry indicated she wanted the extra time. She was given bail subject to conditions, including reporting twice a week to Henderson police.
Mr Gerard told the Herald he believed one of the children was a baby and the other aged about 11.
The court heard that all the money was gone.
Much of it went on gambling by the VIP casino member, and Henry also gave some to people she indicated were unaware of what she was doing.
Henry told the court she had not gambled for a year.
She worked at the university's Mira Szaszy Research Centre - part of its business school and the first dedicated Maori and Pacific research facility in business and economics in New Zealand - until last year.
Since 2003, she had made fake invoices in the name of a genuine company that had previously sold pieces of art to the university.
In many instances, Henry entered false invoice data into the computer system and used colleagues' passwords to "approve" payments, in breach of university policy.
A university spokesman told the Herald more stringent password protections and auditing procedures were in place following a review but would not give further details of the changes.
"Normally our systems protect against this type of fraud by using different people and passwords to carry out the component parts of financial activities," he said.
Henry's deception - in which $609,502.92 was obtained - was uncovered after concerns were raised in 2006 about the research centre's financial performance.
Judge Cunningham said the university made up to the centre for the money it lost but that reduced funding available to other parts of the institution.
It is not known who will look after the children while Henry is behind bars. Her family refused to comment.
