\u201cI\u2019m so happy that the name suppression has been lifted,\u201d Crumlish said, noting Martin was still working in the community and that people \u201cshould be made aware\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want anyone\u2019s hard-earned money to go to a fraudster.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2022, Martin organised and handled the money for a group trip for about 15 children to compete at a rugby tournament. <\/p>\n
Marise Martin was managing a children’s rugby team in 2022. <\/p>\n
One parent who spoke to the Herald in 2023 said families believed they had raised about $12,000 for the trip but the exact amount was not known because Martin handled the finances and did not keep an adequate record of the money.<\/p>\n
Parents put the fundraised money into what they were told was the rugby club\u2019s account, but was actually Martin\u2019s personal bank account.<\/p>\n
During the trip there were issues with the money, which led to multiple people having to fork out cash.<\/p>\n
The lack of money meant the children were unable to do extra activities while away, and parents had to pay extra for food and bedding.<\/p>\n
Grandfather Craig Charleton earlier told the Herald he handed over close to $3000 during the trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was doing it to help their whole team,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Most parents believed the deficit was a result of a series of unfortunate events, but the next year, as parents started looking into planning another trip, some chose to confront Martin and lay a complaint with police.<\/p>\n
She was eventually charged, and has pleaded guilty to theft, with the amount being revised to $1780 after she was able to source some receipts for legitimate spending.<\/p>\n
The sentencing happened in the Hutt Valley District Court earlier this year. Photo \/ Melissa Nightingale<\/p>\n
At her sentencing in the Hutt Valley District Court earlier this year, Judge David Laurenson said the breach of trust was an aggravating feature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no backing away from that. These people paid money expecting it to be used for a specific purpose, and it wasn\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the pre-sentence report, Martin showed poor problem-solving skills and a lack of consequential thinking.<\/p>\n
Judge Laurenson noted Martin was willing to attend restorative justice and had attempted to pay back about $3000 before it was discovered the amount stolen was lower, both things which he considered mitigating factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs Martin has lived a constructive lifestyle otherwise,\u201d he said, noting she had experienced \u201csignificant consequences\u201d as a result of being charged, including having to leave the rugby club and move her children to a different school. <\/p>\n
He said she was assessed as having a low risk of reoffending, and that she was considered suitable for an electronically monitored sentence.<\/p>\n
Marise Martin at her sentencing in August. Photo \/ Melissa Nightingale<\/p>\n
He therefore sentenced her to six months of community detention.<\/p>\n
Parent Claire Taylor, who spoke to the Herald in 2023, said she had considered Martin a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you invite people into your life like that and then you find out this, it cuts pretty deep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t give a s*** about the money. My motivation here is to stop [her] doing this to anybody else in the future.\u201d <\/p>\n
Crumlish this month said she was \u201ctotally oblivious\u201d to Martin\u2019s previous offending.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe took advantage of all our friendship,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Now suppression was lifted, the victims could \u201cfinally breathe\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been hard because no one could talk about it … [she was] making us out as if we were in the wrong<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so disgusting and disappointing … It\u2019s just mindboggling and I\u2019m just so disappointed that [she] can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crumlish said she was happy to be the last person Martin stole from if it meant it wouldn\u2019t happen to another person.<\/p>\n
Previous offending nothing to do with current crime, Martin claimed<\/p>\n
Martin, who previously went by the surname Te Puni, was convicted in 2021 for stealing $19,696.25 worth of gift cards from the supermarket she worked in at the time.<\/p>\n
According to a probation report, she said she and her partner were having trouble making ends meet when she committed the crimes.<\/p>\n
She was sentenced to six months of community detention at the time and ordered to pay back the money. <\/p>\n
When the Herald first approached Martin for comment on the rugby team offending in 2023, she said it had nothing to do with her previous crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my problem and my issue that I had with that workplace,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that I\u2019ve done my time for that. In that place, again, I was backed into a corner … I have now moved on.\u201d <\/p>\n
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m so happy that the name suppression has been lifted,\u201d Crumlish said, noting Martin was still working in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46871,15458,4749,126602,5988,71,40371,21932,42,1899,9933,44406,93,126601,5133,300,10136,11692,43,6029,6327,1346,7187,40,38,41,39,2201,1354,17708,19985],"class_list":["post-207512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-46871","tag-cards","tag-childrens","tag-defraud","tag-families","tag-from","tag-fundraiser","tag-gift","tag-headlines","tag-kids","tag-later","tag-managed","tag-manager","tag-marise","tag-martin","tag-money","tag-named","tag-nearly","tag-news","tag-once","tag-rugby","tag-stole","tag-team","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-went","tag-woman","tag-workplace","tag-worth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}