Employee stole 185kg of sugar

A SWEET-TOOTHED crook who took 185kg of sugar from his workplace and stashed it around his house has been ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.

A SWEET-TOOTHED crook who took 185kg of sugar from his workplace and stashed it around his house has been ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.

Kevin Andrew Williams, 39, was an employee of Bundaberg Sugar between January 26, 2010, and February 2, 2010, when he took sugar and syrup from his workplace.

Yesterday he faced Bundaberg District Court, where he pleaded guilty to receiving tainted property with circumstances of aggravation.

Prosecutor David Nardone said it was practice at Williams’s workplace for employees to ask their supervisor if they wanted to take sugar and they would be allowed to take a 2kg bag from the packaging line.

Mr Nardone said this was not endorsed by the company.

After a tip-off from a neighbour, police searched Williams’s home on February 2, 2010, where they found three containers of syrup, two 25kg bags of sugar in a bedroom and nine 15kg bags of sugar under a child’s bed.

“Despite the leniency of supervisors, (Williams) could not have reasonably believed that any employee was entitled to have that amount of sugar,” Mr Nardone said.

Defence barrister Harry Fong said his client was working in the packaging department before a shoulder injury meant he had to go on worker’s compensation.

Mr Fong said Williams had asked for some sugar when he left work and waited in his car while fellow employees put the sugar in his car because his shoulder injury prevented him from lifting anything.

“When he got home, he realised the large quantity,” the defence lawyer said.

Judge Wally Tutt said Williams had taken advantage of his supervisor’s leniency.

“If you thought you could honestly have that (much sugar), one would ask why would you hide it in the bedroom,” the judge said.

Originally published as Employee stole 185kg of sugar