A former City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder employee who stole nearly $3000 while working at Kalgoorlie Golf Course has been fined and ordered to pay back the money.
Kiara Lee Trigwell, 20, appeared in Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court on Monday after previously pleading guilty to stealing $2921.13 over a year as an employee at the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
The court was told she was working at the golf shop, and in the bar and restaurant, from October 2020 to October last year.
While there, she had access to the till and discovered how to manipulate the system to process a refund and pocket the cash for herself while keeping the tills balanced.
After 12 months of doing this, a staff member saw her stealing cash from the till in October last year and after an internal investigation Trigwell was fired.
The court was told she stole close to $3000 and spent the money on “day-to-day” expenses such as food, rent and fuel.
Defense lawyer William Reid said she was not “living the high life” and was a young woman trying to be independent after moving away from her family home in Albany.
He said Trigwell made full admissions to stealing from the till — and a tip jar — and was now looking to start work at a local bar.
Mr Reid applied for a spent conviction order on her behalf and said the 20-year-old had “her head screwed on” after this experience.
Magistrate Matthew Holgate told Trigwell the ordeal did not seem “worth it” after weighing up how much she would have been getting paid in her job, compared with the “relatively small” amount she gained over 12 months.
“You’ve made a really silly decision. It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said.
“Look at what you get out of this versus what you lose.”
Mr Holgate said in considering a spent conviction application he needed to balance his ability to get future employment and live a pro-social life with an employer’s right to know the background of those they hire.
He said she had no criminal record, was a teenager at the time of the offending, and had since shown remorse leading him to believe she would be unlikely to reoffend.
Mr Holgate fined Trigwell $1000 for the one charge of stealing as a servant, and ordered her to pay back the $2921.13 to the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
He also granted her a spent conviction which means the offense will not appear for most employers looking at her record.
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