Woman stole €132,000 to repay money she had taken from former job

A woman stole €132,000 from a sugar distribution firm to repay €90,000 she had taken from a previous employer to help her family, a court has heard.

Amy McAuley (26) went to her father “distraught” after she had committed the thefts and told him she wanted to go to gardaí to admit what she had done.

Garda Jamie Nolan revealed that McAuley, who received a two year suspended sentence, has since worked a second job and has so far raised €20,000 to pay back the sugar distibutor.

McAuley, of Ledwidge Hall, Slane, Co Meath, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing €132,355 from Nordzucker Ireland Ltd, Arena House, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin on three dates between July 23rd, 2013 and February 26th, 2014. She has no previous convictions.

Garda Nolan told Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, that McAuley had been covering maternity leave as credit controller when she emailed one of Nordzucker’s clients with her own bank details. She informed the client that this was the sugar distributor’s new bank account.

Once this client lodged money into the account, McAuley emailed a few weeks later to say Nordzucker had reverted back to the previous bank details.

She repeated this process with the client the following year and left the job soon after.

Garda Nolan said McAuley later went to her father and tried to explain what she had done.

She wrote down the amounts she had stolen, showed this to her father and then contacted the company’s chief executive

Her father met the chief executive in March 2014 and transferred €10,000 that was left in McAuley’s bank account to Nordzucker.

McAuley told gardaí she had used some of Nordzucker’s money to pay back €91,113 she had taken from a previous employer.

Gda Nolan agreed with Kathleen Leader BL, defending, that her client had used the previous employer’s funds to help her mother and father, whose business had gone bust.

He further agreed McAuley has always appeared “distraught and upset” and puts aside €1,000 per month from a second job to go towards the €122,355 still owed to Nordzucker.

Ms Leader submitted to Judge Patrick McCartan that McAuley had not been taking medication prescribed to her at the time of these offences.

She submitted that her client had her own difficulties and asked the judge to give her the opportunity to repay the owed amount as “she lives every day with what she did”.

Ms Leader added McAuley has raised money for charity and started on a programme helping sick children.

Judge McCartan noted that the crimes were serious and that there had been repeat offending, but said McAuley was a “talented young individual, leaving aside misjudgements”.

The judge said he was impressed by McAuley’s willingness to repay the money.

He suspended the sentence for 10 years and told McAuley that the case would not trouble her anymore if she continued with her repayments.