Belle Mumb (inset). The former operations manager of Carrington Resort is charged with theft and forgery.
Belle Mumb (inset). The former operations manager of Carrington Resort is charged with theft and forgery.
A CEO has exposed chaos within a multimillion-dollar Northland getaway where gang members trashed the resort and a chef allegedly stole wine and urinated outside the restaurant.
The revelations have emerged at a judge-alone trial in the Whangārei District Court against Belle Mumby, the former operationsmanager of Carrington Resort.
Mumby is facing 14 theft and document forgery charges arising from her employment at the resort on the Karikari peninsula from 2018.
Several of the charges relate to instances where Mumby is alleged to have forged the signature of CEO and director Jing Ma to claim overtime.
It is also alleged Mumby took advantage of her position to purchase an iPad, iPhone, AirPods, a Dyson hair dryer, CCTV home kit and a Fuji Instamatic camera from Noel Leeming.
Crown lawyer Danica Soich told the court Mumby had also sold a six-tonne trailer and post rammer valued at $100,000 for $3000 and kept the money.
However, Mumby‘s lawyer Wayne McKean said the director made up the allegations to wrongfully dismiss his client.
“It is her case the CEO put her signature on the overtime form and asked her to photo copy it and use the photocopy form.
“The CEO asked her to do it that way as the CEO was hardly ever around,” McKean submitted.
McKean also said the purchases from Noel Leeming were for the resort and the CEO knew about the sale of the trailer and even took part of the proceeds.
‘The biggest mistake’
Jing Ma gave evidence she has worked for Carrington in various roles since 2014, managing projects and eventually became CEO and a director in 2018.
Ma said Mumby was employed as a tour guide in 2016 to look after delegations coming from China.
Ma revealed an employment disciplinary procedure occurred following that position and she was let go.
However, Ma said they had built a friendship and she urged the company to re-employ her as the guest co-ordinator, which they did in 2018.
“That was biggest mistake I make, the others were right. I was wrong.”
Ma said at the time she was heavily pregnant, business was slow and the resort was facing several employment issues with staff members.
“I asked Belle to just act like my eyes or like my ears and collect some information and allow me to make right decisions,” Ma said through a Chinese interpreter in court.
Jing Ma is one of the directors at Carrington resort owned by Jade LP Holdings.
Ma said Mumby requested her role change to operations manager which Ma said she did not agree to.
An employment agreement with her signature on it was presented to Ma which she claimed she had never seen and the signature was not hers.
Ma said she noticed several of Mumby‘s overtime forms submitted during the low season would strangely exceed hours typically expected in the high season.
Ma said she sent an email reminding staff overtime was to be authorised on pre-arrangement only with managers.
“Did you ever sign any blank overtime forms with your signature?” Soich asked her.
“No, it has to be applied for the overtime, tell me about it and when I get to resort then I will sign it,” she said.
“I paid her a high rate to do her job well but I found there’s not much she’s actually doing, she’s just there but making lots of purchases as well.”
Ma said a disciplinary process began in 2019 after Mumby allegedly took a cash loan from the resort and travelled to Hong Kong.
Ma also said when 300 gang members allegedly trashed the resort and police contacted her, Mumby brushed the incident off as “it’s nothing”.
“What she’s done was terrifying.
“She told me lies everything. The chef was stealing a box of wine every day, he peed in front of the restaurant and it’s all cover him up, I don’t know why,” Ma said.
It was around this time Mumby was formally suspended from Carrington when Ma found out she had sold their trailer and post rammer.
“I said to her you have been suspended because of a few things.”
McKean presented Ma with a signed employment agreement for operations manager yet Ma insisted she be shown the original copy which the court was unable to provide.
“The operation manager was she said it (sic). It was herself gave her that title,” Ma said through the interpreter.
“I have said clearly to you, this agreement I did not make.”
McKean also put to Ma that she was never around in the weekends or public holidays when Mumby worked overtime.
“Her so called overtime, she would have a drink from the cafe sit on the winery cafe and drink it that will be her overtime,” Ma said.
When Ma was asked to look at the signatures on all the documents, Ma insisted the signature was one she had used 20 years ago and was not the same.
The judge-alone trial is expected to finish on Friday.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
