Vanessa Pearce sentenced for taking $223,000 from former employer

A woman says she can’t remember how more than $220,000 of her employer’s money ended up in her account – despite being in charge of the books.

A former bookkeeper will serve a period of home detention after swindling her former employer out of more than $200,000.

Vanessa Pearce was sentenced in the Christies Beach Magistrate Court on Monday for 20 counts of dishonestly taking property without consent.

The court heard Pearce had been working in the accounts department of Duxton Capital Australia when at least 277 unauthorised transactions were made from the business’ Paypal accounts between February 2018 and September 2019.

Vanessa Pearce sentenced for 20 counts of dishonestly taking property without consent.

All 277 of those transactions showed in Pearce’s bank statements, using the same account the business would pay her wage into, with the total amount being $223,638.

“Your role included you having access and control of the PayPal account of the victim,” Magistrate Briony Kennewell said during her sentencing submissions.

“When interviewed by police you said you could not explain why the Paypal records indicated that the funds stolen from the victim’s account had been paid into your account … and it was your job to balance the victim’s account, you did not notice any of the inconsistencies of several thousands of dollars every month.”

The court heard Pearce’s husband had been struggling with an illicit substances addiction at the time of the offending, and many anti-social people would attend her home only to steal her phone and bank cards, which put further financial pressure on her as she was the sole income earner at the time.

“You speculate that the cash withdrawals were made by persons who took your card or by your husband to pay for drugs,” Magistrate Kennewell said.

“Although your bank records show large amounts of ATM withdrawals during the period transfers were being made, you do not remember withdrawing large sums of money.

“You were not in control at that time and you did not know what was coming in and out.”

Pearce was effectively dismissed from her role at Duxton Capital Australia before taking on another accounts job at Hume Taylor and Co, where she again dismissed once they learned about her offending.

Magistrate Kennewell sentenced Pearce to two years, one month and seven days imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 months.

Pearce was also found to be a suitable candidate to have the term completed on home detention.

Compensation of $223,638.19 was also ordered.