Kiwi teen Grace Vlaanderen narrowly avoids deportation from Australia for jewellery theft

New Zealadner Grace Vlaanderen stole jewellery from a Pandora shop on Australia's Sunshine Coast when she was a casual worker there. Photo / Facebook

A depressed and hard-up Kiwi who worked at a Pandora jewellery shop in Australia has narrowly avoided being kicked out of the country for stealing rings and bracelets worth more than $6400.

The scam unravelled after she tried to have the goods sold on Facebook.

Grace Vlaanderen, 19, who moved to Australia from Ohaupo in Waikato in 2013, pleaded guilty to theft as an employee and attempted fraud, Daily Mail Australia reported.

A casual worker at a Pandora shop on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, she stole the jewellery between November and last month.

She arranged for her sister, who was unaware of the theft, to offer the goods for sale on Facebook.

When a customer of the shop asked about 15 gold rings advertised online, the manager's suspicions were aroused and a stocktake found the same items were missing.

A police search of Vlaanderen's home turned up the gold rings - plus four silver rings and two bracelets.

The stolen jewellery was worth $6000 (NZ$6436).

Magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist told the defendant her offending was "very serious" and that she was "already halfway across the Tasman".

Vlaanderen was sentenced, in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court, to 15 months' probation; no conviction was recorded.

The teenager, who quit Pandora and now works as a cafe waitress and barista, suffered from "depression issues", her lawyer said. She stole because she was struggling to pay her bills.