Jail for bank clerk’s theft

Press, 26 February 1983, Page 24

Jail for bank clerk’s theft

PA Levin A former bank clerk who admitted a charge of theft as a servant was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution of $24,518 when He appeared before Judge Jaine in the District Court at Levin.

At an earlier hearing, Paul Edwin Whittle, aged 29, formerly of Levin, admitted stealing various sums totalling $24,518 from the Bank of New Zealand, Foxton, between January 1, 1977 and June 25, 1980. Counsel, Mr P. J. Comber, told the Judge that the offences traced the tragic pattern where a respected member of the community, liked by his fellow workers, and a good family man, was led to the dock by racehorses. Mr Comber said it was clear that the defendant was a compulsive gambler, which was a disease similar to alcoholism and which could only be remedied by self-will and with the help of those around him. Fortunately, the defendant’s three young children were not aware of what was hap-

pening, and his marriage had survived the trauma. The Judge told Whittle that because he was a compulsive gambler he had got himself into a vicious circle. Since 1972, he had built up a reputation as a trusted and reliable employee, but he abused that trust for three years, and then by two years of concealment. The Judge said the court could begin to understand the suffering and shame brought, upon Whittle and his family, but the gravity of his offence and the amount of the sum involved, the abuse of trust and the long period during which the offending was carried out, had to be taken into account. “It is absolutely necessary that the public’s confidence in the integrity of banks in this country be maintained, and so the court must resort to its ultimate sanction in this type of offending,” said the Judge. However, there were many factors in Whittle’s favour which enabled the Court to consider a reduction in the appropriate term.