Gambling addict stole $13,000   

LAIRD HARPER

Last updated 10/04/2013

An accounts manager and barmaid stole more than $13,000 from Opunake's Club Hotel to feed her gambling addiction.

Over a 20-month period, Rebecca Amy Neil, 29, took money from the hotel's safe and pokie machines or wrote cheques to herself. In the Hawera District Court yesterday, Neil admitted a charge of theft by a person in a special relationship.

The court heard how as accounts manager she was able to write out hotel cheques to cover the shortfall in the Pub Charity's bank account.

Police prosecutor Steve Michael said on four occasions she also banked cheques directly into her own accounts. She then falsified or removed cheque butts in an attempt to make the transactions look legitimate to management.

Neil was remanded to reappear for sentencing on July 17 after completing a Salvation Army course on addiction.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/8529773/Gambling-addict-stole-13-000