Stuff Digital Edition

Staffer steals $450k from trusting bosses

Marty Sharpe marty.sharpe@stuff.co.nz

A couple who employed a woman and treated her and her family as their own are now having to put their lives back together after she stole more than $450,000 from them.

Anne and John McDonald bought Vista Motor Lodge in Wairoa in 2017, and looked forward to spending the last of their working years there. Anne was 64 and John was 69 when they moved there after selling their restaurant in Tuakau, Waikato.

The McDonalds came to know local woman Danielle Grant, also known as Danielle Mete, 34, and employed her to do a variety of jobs.

When John McDonald had a stroke in 2019 Grant agreed to help with office and administration work, including using the business account to pay staff and bills.

Also in 2019 Grant and her partner and five children had to move out of the house they rented. The McDonalds provided them a two-bedroom unit at the motel rent-free in exchange for work. She was not paid a salary. In July 2020 Anne McDonald noticed anomalies in the business bank accounts, with a number of payments being made to online travel agency Expedia.

When asked about these payments Grant said she would sort the matter out. She later said that there had been a glitch related to Covid-19 and Expedia would repay the money.

In October 2020 Anne McDonald was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to spend a lot of time away from the business. Grant was trusted to take over the day-today running.

When Anne McDonald noticed the repayments by Expedia had not been made she contacted her bank’s fraud investigation team, which discovered the money had been transferred from the business into another bank account.

Police began investigating the matter in late December 2020.

It was discovered that between April and December 2020 Grant had accessed the business account on 420 occasions and had transferred more than $450,000 into her accounts. She labelled the payments as ‘‘Expedia’’.

By the time the police became involved Grant had just $200 left in her account. The rest had been withdrawn from ATM machines in Wairoa, spent at shops, or transferred into other accounts.

Grant initially denied any knowledge of the payments.

She was charged with four representative charges – two of theft (over $1000) and two of dishonestly accessing a computer system. She initially denied the charges but later pleaded guilty.

She was sentenced in the Gisborne District Court by Judge Turitea Bolstad on Thursday to two years and 11 months’ imprisonment.

No order for reparation was made as Grant could not pay it.

AnneMcDonald said the ordeal had been crushing.

‘‘These are the years John and I had worked for all our lives, the years we could finally slow down and enjoy the fruits of our life-long labours.

‘‘Danielle was aware of our plans. We took her and her family in and treated them like our own. We loved her and her family. We treated her children like our grandchildren, and we made plans for the future around them.’’

During the couple’s health issues, Anne McDonald said Grant told her, ‘‘I’ve got your back.’’

‘‘But behind our backs she was robbing us blind. Even as I was being rolled into surgery I received a call from a credit card company that she was at it again.’’

Her husband was now ‘‘the shadow of the man he used to be’’, Anne McDonald said.

‘‘When I wake up in the middle of the night and silently go over figures and calculations in my head, wondering how we will pay for this and that, I think of Danielle. We did not deserve this.’’

Of the sentence handed down to Grant, she said it was ‘‘better than no prison sentence at all’’.

News

en-nz

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281857237160980

Stuff Limited