A woman acquitted on a charge of stealing nearly $400,000 from her employer was awarded $20,000 by the Court of Appeal yesterday.
Fay Afato was charged in 2005 with stealing $390,000 from her employer, Travelex. The money had been stolen out of a safe using Ms Afato's security
codes.
Ms Afato and another employee were also apparently filmed on a closed circuit television (CCTV) tape turning off the recording 12 hours before the burglary.
Police charged Ms Afato, who denied any involvement in the crime.
Before the trial, Ms Afato hired a detective who discovered that if the CCTV recording had been viewed in its entirety, it was clear the video recorder had not been turned off as police had thought.
The prosecution accepted the detective's findings but still elected to take Ms Afato to trial. During the trial it was established Ms Afato's security codes were not secure and were available to other staff members.
It was also discovered a key used to gain access to the building was one that had been lost by another employee some months earlier.
The presiding judge acquitted Ms Afato of all charges and awarded her $8072.80 to cover costs of hiring the detective.
Ms Afato appealed against the amount of compensation, saying it was inadequate.
In their decision yesterday, Justices William Young, Warwick Gendall and Ronald Young said the pre-trial investigation by Ms Afato established that her actions in relation to the security camera were not suspicious.
Further questioning of witnesses during the trial also established she was not guilty, the justices said. They said a proper police investigation would have revealed there was not sufficient evidence to charge Ms Afato.
The judges awarded Ms Afato $20,000 on top of the $8072.80 already awarded to her.
- NZPA
