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MediaWorks employee accused of stealing $458,094 retains name suppression, requests sentence indication

A MediaWorks employee who faces fraud charges amounting to $458,094 will retain name suppression until the case appears before the court on 22 June.

The accused appeared before the Auckland District Court today, but did not enter a plea in regard to any of the charges.

She did, however, request a sentence indication, a step taken to determine how long a sentence might be in the event of a guilty plea.  

The accused first appeared in court in March and faces charges of invoicing the media company from real and fake companies, with the amounts ranging from $260 to a series of invoices amounting to over $230,000 from one company. 

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the accused allegedly used MediaWorks credit cards—one in her name and four in the names of co-workers—to conduct the fraud.

The court heard a request today to also suppress the names of the four co-workers, who were said not to have been directly linked with the offending and do not wish to be associated with it.

The accused’s legal counsel Peter Tomlinson also requested that the accused’s name be suppressed until the case again appears before the court on 22 June, when the sentence indication process will take place. 

The District Court judge questioned why the matter could only be heard at this stage, and Tomlinson detailed a list of prior engagements that precluded him from appearing before that date.

The judge remanded the accused on bail until the next court appearance.

Asked for comment after the court appearance, Tomlinson declined on account of the matter not having yet concluded.      

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