Between July 2008 and December 2010 she stole large sums of cash from Te Puia.
Pene used two methods to take money.
The first method was to retain receipts from paying customers who did not request a receipt. When another customer came along, Pene would fail to close the sale on the computer system and then re-issue a receipt from the receipts she had retained.
The second method involved appearing to complete the sale on the computer system.
Pene would receive cash from the customer, place it in the till and give the appropriate change.
She would then delete the sale from the computer, leaving no record of sale and leaving the till with excess cash for her to take.
Some days when Pene left work, she would take home more than $1000.
The ticket sellers at Te Puia sit inside a small building at the front gate.
The building contains three ticketing booths separated by dividers and up to three staff work at any one time.
There are video cameras installed above each ticket booth and all staff are aware of the cameras, the summary of facts said. On December 30, 2010, Te Puia staff in the finance division noticed the accused was not following correct procedure for ticket sales.
Surveillance footage was checked and showed she was stealing cash.
She was interviewed by police on December 30 and admitted stealing, offering $4470 cash from her purse, money she had stolen over the previous three days.
A forensic accountant was brought in and established Pene had taken $324,000 between July 1, 2008, and December 30, 2010.
It was a conservative calculation and the summary of facts said it could have been more.
Pene was co-operative and admitted the stealing, saying she had been taking large amounts of cash from Te Puia for about three years. She had no idea how much money she had stolen in that time.
After her guilty plea, Pene was remanded on bail for sentencing on November 4.
Also in court yesterday was a second ticket seller, Waikare Bernadette Te Moana, 55, who faces a representative charge of stealing $233,000 from Te Puia. She is yet to plead to the charge and her case has been adjourned to November 4.
