Michael Patrick Gardiner sentenced in District Court over theft of more than $120,000 from ATMs

An armoured vehicle officer who stole more than $100,000 from the ATMs he was meant to protect was motivated by a grievance with his employer over a workplace injury.

An armoured vehicle officer who stole more than $100,000 from the ATMs he was meant to protect was motivated by a grievance with his employer over a workplace injury.

Over three-and-half years Prosegur employee Michael Patrick Gardiner stole between $124,000 and $141,000 from ATMs across Brisbane while on the job.

Brisbane’s District Court heard on Thursday that he stole the cash from the ATMs reject bags when his work partner wasn’t looking or by taking them back to the vehicle.

Michael Patrick Gardiner is at risk of deportation after his sentence expires.

Crown prosecutor Kate Droney said Prosegur’s internal systems eventually picked up the discrepancies.

“They installed some covert CCTV which captured the defendant placing cash from those machines into his pockets,” she said.

“Given the amount of money your honour could infer some kind of financial harm or financial difficulty arose.”

Ms Droney said no restitution had been paid by Gardiner.

Barrister Jack Kennedy said his 53-year-old client, who had no previous criminal history, “simply couldn’t resist the urge to take the money” due to a “misplaced sense of revenge”.

Mr Kennedy said Gardiner, who had worked at Prosegur since 2003, suffered a back injury in 2015 at work.

“There was some animosity he felt towards his employer and it seems he just couldn't resist himself,” he said.

Mr Kennedy said the back injury had greatly affected his client and led to the breakdown of his marriage.

Gardiner had no drug or alcohol substance problems but suffered depression and was at risk of deportation back to his native New Zealand due to the offending.

Gardiner stole the money from the ATMs reject bag

Mr Kennedy said the offending, which occurred between December 2017 and July 2021, was unsophisticated and the money went to paying bills and living expenses “not to fund an overly lavish lifestyle”.

“One could not imagine a more simplistic way of stealing money, literally carrying it out to the van putting notes in your pocket … there's been no attempt to cover his actions at all,” he said.

Judge Michael Williamson disagreed saying there were definitely steps to “cover up”.

“There were steps taken by Mr Gardiner to take the money to the van or wait for his partner not to be looking, so there had to be concealment,” he said.

Judge Williamson said the offending was serious because it was protracted, involved a significant amount of money and Gardiner had been entrusted to “protect the very money you ultimately stole”.

“Up until these events you were a man of good character contributing to society,” he said.

“It is that workplace accident which appears to have been the source of at least part of the explanation that was offered for the offending here, that is you felt disgruntled towards your employer … and took it upon yourself in effect to visit upon them vengeance by taking the money.”

Gardiner was sentenced to four years jail to be suspended after he serves 12 months.