4 fees had been for theft of products value over $1000. In whole, she stole gadgets value $8278 from a number of Countdown shops over 10 months from July 2022.
Rapana’s costliest outing was in July 2022, when she walked out of a central Nelson Countdown grocery store with a trolley-load of products together with well being and sweetness merchandise, meat and confectionary value virtually $1300.
She was seen on CCTV strolling the trolley out of the shop.
Police mentioned Rapana’s methodology was to position low-value gadgets on high of the trolley and stroll out.
On August 9, 2022, she returned to Countdown, loaded a trolley and as soon as extra tried to hide gadgets by putting low-value gadgets on high. On that event, the theft of products totalled $639.
A number of days later she was again on the similar retailer, the place she loaded a trolley and walked by way of the checkout, making no try to pay for the gadgets, value $1132.
She returned on August 31, this time stealing gadgets value $1050.
On December 30, 2022 she entered Countdown Trafalgar Park, loaded a trolley and went by way of the checkout with out paying for gadgets value $1279.
Her journey to the grocery store on March 24, 2023, resulted within the theft of products value $619.
On two journeys to Countdown in April final yr she stole items totalling $1276, and on Could 8 she returned and left with a trolley load valued at $986.
Defence lawyer Kris Foremost mentioned Rapana had since been making an attempt to be a productive member of society and was an lively member of a church and her youngsters’s faculty.
She had been remorseful over her actions, and whereas restorative justice was an choice explored, it didn’t go forward.
Woolworths NZ, formally often called Countdown, instructed NZME in April the corporate had skilled a 326% improve in thefts from its shops over the previous six years. On the similar time, there had been an 806 per cent rise in safety incidents and a 303% improve in bodily assaults.
The corporate declined to say how Rapana was in a position to offend so repeatedly from its shops, nevertheless it had “various security and safety measures being rolled out” to make shops safer for group members and clients.
Woolworths NZ mentioned it knew that sturdy relationships with the police, neighborhood teams and different retailers had been crucial to addressing the issue, and this was one thing they continued to construct.
It was not too long ago reported that the grocery store chain was investing $45 million in safety upgrades to sort out the sharp rise in shoplifting and aggression. These included trolley lock methods, push-to-talk radios and double-entry gates.
Woolworths operates greater than 190 shops, serving about three million clients each week.
Choose Zohrab acknowledged that Rapana regretted her actions and was frightened about “blowback” from media protection and the affect on her youngsters.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was beforehand RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has coated normal information, together with courtroom and native authorities for the Nelson Mail.
