“She has affected me more than any other offender who has walked through our doors including the physical altercations I’ve had,” the Rebel store manager told the court during her sentencing on Friday.

“You made my team feel stupid cos we trusted you, you built the trust that made me and the team think you would never betray us.

“But you did betray us, having you refuse accountability and using your connections with the police force shows you have no disregard for the mess you leave in your wake.”

Helping a friend through hard times

The KitSet Homes offending happened in 2020 whilst she was under investigation for the ACC offending, which she was found guilty of in 2019 and sentenced to 200 hours of community work.

Between June and December of 2020, a friend who owned KitSet Homes in Whangārei offered her a job to help her out as she was going through a hard time.

Renes worked as an office assistant managing emails, invoicing and assigning job sheets to workers. The business was busy but the owners often wondered why there was not much money in the bank account.

The owners noticed a drop in cash sales and in October 2020 questioned Renes about why an order that had been dispatched had not been paid. Renes apologised and immediately transferred the $5000 into the business account.

While Renes was away on leave, the victim became more concerned about irregularities and noticed more money that should have gone into the business, had gone into her son’s account.

A total of 16 transactions for more than $11,000 had gone missing and when questioned, Renes transferred the money back in several transactions but denied she had done anything wrong.

Renes pleaded guilty to these charges in May this year.

Rebel Sport

The second lot of offending occurred in 2022 when Renes took advantage of a 10-year relationship with the staff at Rebel Sport in Whangārei.

Staff trusted Renes so much they allowed her to go into changing rooms unwatched, with as many items as she liked and even took security tags off shoes so she could try them on more comfortably.

Over two days in August Renes took a pram into the store, and footage showed her movements were consistent with her hiding items under it. Also that day, she fraudulently used a legitimate receipt to get a refund for a pair of shoes, which staff had earlier de-tagged.

She claimed to have previously bought the shoes in Pukekohe and that they were meant to be size 10s but she had been mistakenly given size 8.5s.

On August 7, the store manager found numerous security tags hidden behind a poster on a changing room wall and in empty shoeboxes on shelves. When they checked the CCTV footage, Renes was seen handling items that matched the hidden tags.

Renes pleaded not guilty and even gave evidence at her trial before Judge Ian Mill in May that she had not taken anything from the store, the refund was legitimate and the items found at her house were coincidental.

At trial, the Crown said Renes had been tipped off by her connections within the police and got rid of many of the items.

A jury found her guilty after five hours of deliberation.

Sentencing: ‘A devastating experience’

Sentencing Judge Ian Mill said the owner of KitSet had also been left devastated for trusting in her even giving her extra money to attend bowls competitions.

“They were working very hard and getting very little in return. That was a devastating experience for a person who was your friend,” Judge Mills said.

Rene’s lawyer Adam Pell said his client was remorseful but Judge Mills found that hard to reconcile.

“She pleaded not guilty. This was not a simple denial, she gave evidence and that evidence was she didn’t do it.

“How do I reconcile that with what she now says? She knew she did it, and she deeply regretted it right from the start.

“It can’t possibly be both ways.”

In a pre-sentence report submitted to the court, the report writer noted Renes was not remorseful to which Pell responded the report writer had made things up and focused on other things like her previous ACC convictions.

“The only reservation I have about this is what is reported by probation is consistent with what you did do during and through the time up until you pleaded guilty and were found guilty,” Judge Mill said.

“This was a serious breach of trust, the feelings of trust being broken is obvious.”

Judge Mill sentenced Renes to eight months of home detention.

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.