Sidone Mora: Mum sentenced after 15 year delay over theft from her employer

A northern suburbs scoundrel who stole from her employer had to wait 15 years to be sentenced after police “lost” the paperwork.

Sidone Mora stole more than $20,000 from her employer in 2006. (Generic photo)

A northern suburbs woman who stole more than $20,000 from her employer had to wait 15 years for her day in court because her lawyer said police lost the paperwork.

Sidone Mora, 36, was sentenced in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court on August 31 over a series of thefts she committed between January and December 2006.

The police prosecutor told the court he was unaware what caused the 15 year delay, but Mora’s lawyer said paperwork detailing Mora’s offending and charges had been lost and only rediscovered in 2020.

Mora committed the thefts when she was 21, working as a casual employee at JB Hi-Fi’s Highpoint and Rosemond Road stores.

Over a year Mora printed and retained customer receipts until her next shift and refunded the purchases into her own account 54 times.

This happened weekly and the refunds would sometimes reach $1000.

The court heard Mora only stopped in April 2006 when she took time off to give birth her second child.

JB Hi-Fi discovered the thefts in 2007 and reported them to the police, who arrested Mora.

She admitted to stealing about $15,000 and told police she had only done so at the Rosamund Rd store.

But an investigation by JB Hi-Fi revealed she had also committed thefts at their Highpoint store and Broadmeadows store, bringing the total sum of money stolen to $22,555.

The case then took another 15 years to reach court.

The decade and a half delay did not stop police from seeking a jail sentence, a submission magistrate Timothy Hoare immediately rejected.

Magistrate Hoare told the police informant the case had not been followed through or properly prosecuted and the delay made imprisonment inappropriate.

Mora’s lawyer told the court she committed the thefts out of extreme desperation, having left a difficult home at 16 and dropped out of university at 18, when her first child was born.

She had worked for JB Hi-Fi in a casual role and had been in danger of eviction.

In the 15 years since she was caught, Mora’s lawyer told the court she had rehabilitated, becoming a stay-at-home mother after family finances stabilise partner found reliable work.

Magistrate Hoare convicted Mora, fined her $5000 and ordered her to repay the $22,000 to JB Hi-Fi.

He said if it not for the delay in which Mora rehabilitated herself, she would have been jailed.

[e-mail]