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RNZ News
39 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Thrift Season 5 Trailer
Thrift is back with more money saving hints and hacks! Katy Gosset meets a savvy student who's teaching others how to eat better for less and visits an award-winning student flat garden. She gleans some thrifty wisdom from our older residents and meets the Pasifika community who are growing taro in the Mid-Canterbury winter. We head behind the scenes at a social enterprise to learn how they turn out 700 low-cost community meals each day. And Katy embarks on a thrifty road trip and meets some seasoned travellers who've gone a long way on a shoestring.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
'Greed' drove mum who stole $500,000 from employer and spent most on takeaways, judge finds
By Belinda Feek, Open Justice multimedia journalist of Ariana Thompson-Bell spent most of the money on clothing and fast food, her lawyer told the court. Photo: Supplied / NZME A woman who pilfered just under $500,000 from her employer says she spent most of it on takeaways and clothing. Ariana Thompson-Bell transferred legitimate payments into one of her four personal bank accounts over two years, and made deposits into her own daughter's bank account. Thompson-Bell was jailed on a charge of theft by a person in a special relationship in the Hamilton District Court on Monday afternoon. Her employer successfully appealed to have their name suppressed by Judge Tini Clark. The employer can instead be described as a "local work skills programme". In trying to break down Thompson-Bell's offending, Judge Clark quizzed counsel Christine Hardy about exactly what the stolen money was spent on. "It essentially went on funding a lifestyle that was beyond her means. "I'm talking about lots of money that was spent on things like clothing and fast food," Hardy said. Judge Clark pressed: "You'd have to buy a lot of fast food to spend $500,000 or thereabouts, wouldn't you, Ms Hardy. Was there travel, were there vehicles?" Hardy replied: "I don't believe there were any vehicles. And there was one transaction for Air NZ in the thousands of dollars, but by and large it was being spent in small but very frequent amounts." The offending happened between 2021 and 2023. Thompson-Bell's modus operandi was simple. Instead of paying legitimate invoices to service providers, she put the money into one of four accounts she had control of. In 2023, the chief executive started receiving letters from the IRD and other companies stating that payments had been missed. The CEO recalled recently authorising payments, so initiated an investigation and found "significant funds" being transferred into one of four bank accounts. One of the accounts belonged to a staff member, identified as Thompson-Bell. Police were informed, and examinations were done on her Kiwibank accounts. They found that between December 2021 and September 2022, $191,073 was transferred into her account. Between January 2021 and November 2022, she transferred $241,554.26 into her daughter's account, a further $63,800 into a third account, and $3500 into the account of a kōhanga reo. In total, Thompson-Bell stole $499,972.55. Since first appearing in court last year, a total of $66,355.93 has been repaid, which included about $40,000 from her mother. Hardy said that as soon as her offending was uncovered, Thompson-Bell attended a hui with her employer "face to face". "And she formally apologised and took responsibility." However, Judge Clark noted it wasn't as if Thompson-Bell suffered a "crisis of conscience", and fessed up to her behaviour - she was caught. At the hui, it was agreed that the money would be paid back. But Judge Clark said that was unlikely to ever happen, given she had so far paid back only about 13 percent of what she had stolen. Hardy urged the judge to get down to a sentence of 24 months, which was within range of home detention to allow her to continue to look after her five children. She explained that Thompson-Bell's husband was often away for work and would be unable to look after all the children himself. Hardy described the offending as "unsophisticated", as all she did was change the bank account number to which the money was being deposited. However, aggravating the situation for the judge was discovering that Thompson-Bell had just two years earlier qualified to work in finance when she began stealing. Judge Clark said the injection of those funds would have made a "significant difference" to the quality of her family's life. "To provide Ms Thompson-Bell a lifestyle that she desired and otherwise would not have been able to achieve from her own earnings ... clearly, Ms Thompson-Bell and her family have benefited from her dishonesty." The judge said she didn't have any information from the contractors affected, but it appeared as though her employer paid them and then adopted a prudent approach with its spending. Judge Clark said while the trust managed to meet its financial obligations, "that's all good and well, but it does occur to me that there's more than just one victim here". Trying to describe the impetus behind the offending, Judge Clark said one word came to mind, "greed". "This was not money taken for something essential, where it was a one-off occasion out of desperation or anything of the kind. This was a very warped sense of entitlement to money that she knew ... she was not entitled to." Judge Clark said the impact of Thompson-Bell's sentence weighed heavily with her and also the impact it would have on her children, but found a jail sentence was justified. She allowed discounts for the guilty plea, remorse, reparation, the impact on Thompson-Bell's children and previous good character. "I have had to be very clinical. From my perspective, I have done as much as I can, and, unfortunately, Mrs Thompson-Bell, it will be 27 months' imprisonment." -This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- RNZ News
One found dead, one seriously injured in boat on Lake Manapouri
The missing boat was found shortly after midnight at in Safe Cove on Lake Manapouri Photo: One man was found dead and another was seriously injured when police located a boat that had failed to return from a fishing trip on Lake Manapouri overnight. Southern Area Commander Inspector Mike Bowman said police are investigating what happened before the pair was discovered. He said the alarm was raised about 7:20pm on Sunday night, when two experienced fishers failed to return from a fishing trip on the lake, and also failed to check in on the radio. Bowman said a local helicopter was used to search for the boat, and it was found with the two men on board about 12:30am in Safe Cove. "One was deceased, and the other was in serious condition and treated at hospital where he is recovering well," said Bowman. Bowman said enquiries will be made by police on behalf of the coroner. "Police's sincere condolences go out to their family and loved ones." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
