Kaitāia woman Toddy Shepherd accused of fraud from charity remanded on bail

Toddy Shepherd appeared in the Kaitaia District Court today charged with stealing more than $100,000 from a national disability charity.

A Kaitāia woman accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a national disability support charity has been further remanded on bail.

Toddy Shepherd appeared before Judge MJ Hunt in the Kaitāia District Court today charged with six representative counts of theft by a person in a special relationship, and one of obtaining by deception.

The charges, involving just over $103,000, relate to alleged offending between 2012 and 2015 while she worked for CCS Disability Action as Honongo Rawhiti regional manager.

A five-day trial has been tentatively scheduled to begin on November 19, with the week beginning September 24 as a possible back-up, but Judge Hunt heard that she wished to vacate a request for trial by a judge alone in favour of trial by jury.

Counsel Richard Parangi said that had always been her intention, but the election had not been recorded.

Judge Hunt said that would require a specific process to be followed, and set the application down for hearing in the Whangārei District Court on August 2.

Crown prosecutor Mike Smith said questions of the admissibility of some evidence against Shepherd would likely be raised at that appearance.

Shepherd failed to appear when she was first called yesterday, Judge Hunt saying that he would issue a warrant for her arrest if she did not appear after the morning adjournment.

She did appear after the morning break saying through Parangi that she had "not been aware" of her need to be there.