Cafe manager busted with his hand in the till siphons $28,500

A Brisbane cafe manager has walked free from court after admitting he siphoned $28,500 from his employers at a well-known garden centre.

Eden Gardens cafe (Facebook image)

A Brisbane cafe manager has walked free from court after admitting he siphoned $28,500 from his employers at a well-known garden centre.

Matthew Richard Easten, 34, was in Brisbane District Court on Tuesday before Judge Suzanne Sheridan where he pleaded guilty to one charge of stealing as servant.

Easten took the money from the cash register of the Eden Gardens Cafe in Carseldine, in Brisbane’s north, over a 14-month period, in 195 transactions.

He was able to disguise the theft by entering the transactions as refunds in the cash register, taking between $10 and $300 each time between July 8, 2018 and August 16, 2019.

He used the money to pay debts he had racked up following a relationship break-up.

The hole in the accounts was identified on August 16, 2019 and Easten was given a formal warning and he was placed on supervision.

Matthew Richard Easten outside Brisbane District Court on Tuesday. Picture: Josh Woning

He was later sacked and admitted to taking money from the register, saying he “grew braver over time” and he had intended on repaying the money but greed had taken over.

Easten has apologised and agreed to pay restitution of the full amount stolen to his former employer over three years.

He is working as the manager of a cafe in Brisbane’s central business district and can afford to repay up to $200 a week, the court heard.

In sentencing Easten, Judge Sheridan said employee theft “cuts at the heart of the employer-employee relationship” and that his actions were deliberate and he avoided detection for a long time, although his method of theft was not particularly sophisticated.

Judge Sheridan sentenced him to a wholly suspended two-year prison term, with an operational period of three years.

If he fails to repay the full amount by October 17, 2025, he will be forced to return to court to explain why he should not be jailed.