Female thief jailed 4 years for stealing

By ABIGAIL APINA
A WOMAN who stole K116,591.64 while employed by Post PNG Ltd at the Kerevat Postal and Banking Agency, in East New Britain, has been jailed for four years with light labour.
Merlin Tadiring, of Rabagi village, in Gazelle district, was found guilty last Thursday of stealing the money belonging to the Bank South Pacific in Kokopo between Jan 3 and April 13, 2006.
Her trial between September and December last year found her guilty of stealing K23,098.45 on count one, count two involved K76,415.07 and count three for K17,078.12.
The court heard the offences were committed while Tadiring had been employed by Post PNG Ltd to man Kerevat branch, where she was required to manage mo­ney belonging to members of East New Britain Savings and Loan Society and BSP Kokopo branch.
The court heard that a large sum of money went missing and Tadiring was the only person manning the office at that time.
Her lawyer said she was a first offender and had worked with the company for 17 years and that she had a young family with school aged children.
In addition, Tadiring had lost her entitlements after being sacked.
Judge Salatiel Lenalia sentenced her to four years in jail with light labour but suspended three years on condition that after serving one year, she would keep the peace for two years.
She was not ordered to repay the mo­ney and her bail money was refunded.