Slaughterman goes on $700 spree with co-worker’s card

The father of two was “short on cash” and pocketed his colleague’s debit card when he found it on the floor at work at Nolan Meats

Kevin Edward John Smith used a co-worker's debit card to buy $700 worth of alcohol, cigarettes and Coca-cola.

A NOLAN Meats worker who stole a co-worker's debit card and racked up close to $700 worth of alcohol, cigarettes and soft drink has narrowly missed spending time behind bars.

Kevin Edward John Smith, a 35-year-old slaughterman, pocketed his colleague's debit card when he found it on the floor at work last month on October 21.

Later that day he used the card to buy $95.98 worth of alcohol at the Mt Pleasant Hotel in Gympie by tapping the card in a payWave transaction.

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He bought two more lots of alcohol and then continued on a whirlwind shopping spree - stopping next at Gympie's Woolworths where he bought hundreds of dollars worth of cigarettes and coca-cola in three separate transactions.

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Kevin Edward John Smith was given a jail sentence, but it was suspended for 18 months.

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He then moved on to Liquor World Cellars on the Bruce Highway where he bought more alcohol in two separate transactions.

Within about 15 minutes of the first transaction he had spent $698.23 on the card in eight different tap and go transactions.

Smith, a father of two, said he knew it was wrong but he was "particularly short on cash which impacted his decision when he found the card", his lawyer told Gympie Magistrates Court on Monday.

She said he was remorseful and had not been in trouble for eight years.

Magistrate Callaghan said if people continued to fraudulently take advantage of "tap and go" payments banks would remove the service.

"This type of fraud really needs to be stamped out," he said.

He sentenced Smith to three months jail, but wholly suspended it for 18 months and ordered him to pay $398.28 in restitution.

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