By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A builder defrauded of $165,480 by his firm’s book-keeper, says he feels he’s been stolen from twice after the thief was sentenced to a community corrections order.
Penni Jane Venn, 48, of Beaconsfield, was convicted and put on the three-year order with 350 hours of unpaid work by Judge Jane Patrick in the Victorian County Court on 7 June.
Her former boss Simon Dunstan, director of SJD Homes, said the “lightweight” sentence didn’t reflect Venn’s “betrayal”.
“It was a betrayal of the friendship as much as anything.”
In sentencing, Judge Patrick stated Venn would have been jailed for two years, with a non-parole period of 15 months, if she hadn’t pleaded guilty.
The judge said she was not convinced jail was the only sentencing option, given Venn’s previous good character, no prior convictions nor subsequent offending during the trial’s delay.
The offending was serious, repeated but “mid-range” for those type of crimes.
Between 2009-’13, Venn used 10 cheques and 12 electronic fund transfers to switch company money into her accounts.
Working from home, she was entrusted with blank cheques, with the passwords and tokens to access SJD’s accounts and with preparing the firm’s monthly reconciliation statements.
She used false entries and falsified cheque butts to cover her tracks, the court heard.
Judge Patrick noted the fact that Venn’s husband was sub-contracted as a plasterer made her offending harder to detect.
“The amounts you took each time weren’t large, but added to a significant amount.”
