Pharmacist stole codeine from Alexandra workplace, career in jeopardy

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A pharmacist who stole codeine tablets from her Alexandra workplace has put her career in jeopardy.

Sarah Elizabeth McDonald’s convictions on two charges of theft, for which she was sentenced in the Alexandra District Court on Friday, will soon be the subject of a decision by the Pharmacy Council.

Judge Michael Turner said he doubted she would be allowed to return to her profession “in the foreseeable future”.

About a month after the 35-year-old Cromwell resident began working at the pharmacy last May, its owners began noticing discrepancies between the stock count of codeine and the number of tablets being dispensed to patients.

They started daily stock counts of the codeine tablets and noticed the discrepancies on the days the defendant was working.

A CCTV camera was installed with a field of view that included the drug safe and their employee’s lockers.

Footage on June 23 and June 25 showed her putting tablets in her pocket, or a pill container in her handbag, on five occasions.

When the owners requested a meeting with her to get an explanation, McDonald quit.

She was found to have stolen a total of 83 tablets.

The defendant told police she had been prescribed codeine after she caught Covid-19 earlier that year, and it had made her feel better. She had felt ill during the week she was filmed stealing the tablets, and taking them to improve her condition.

A sentencing report said she started working as a pharmacist after graduating in 2018 but had quit after feeling “burned out”.

She had returned to the profession, three days a week, at the Alexandra pharmacy.

Judge Michael Turner said the offending was aggravated by the defendant’s breach of her employer’s trust. As a pharmacist, she knew codeine was addictive and why there were rules to keep the drug secure.

The pharmacy’s owners had to assume other staff could be responsible when the discrepancies were first noticed, he said.

“Your actions put everyone under suspicion.”

McDonald was sentenced to 140 hours of community work, and ordered to pay a reparation of $2319 for the cost of the CCTV camera and $1000 reparation for emotional harm.