WAGGA DISTRICT COURT
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A DISTRICT Court judge has refused the Crown's call to put Wagga woman Christine McColl behind bars for stealing $761,000 from her employer.
In a judgement handed down in Wagga District Court this morning, Judge Phillip Mahony SC confirmed an order by Local Court magistrate Michael Antrum that McColl serve 18 months home detention for the first of eight counts of larceny as a clerk or servant.
But he set aside Mr Antrum's order that McColl serve concurrent 18-month home detention for another seven identical charges.
Instead, he ordered McColl come back to him when the home detention finishes – on June 8, 2015 – so he can give her a 14-month suspended jail sentence on the remaining charges.
"I am just adjourning the matter part-heard to me," Judge Mahony said.
The Crown appealed against home detention for McColl, saying it was inadequate for her crimes, which she committed over a period of about seven-and-a-half years while practice manager of the Peter Street Medical Centre.
The Crown called for full-time jail for 60-year-old McColl.
Judge Mahony upheld the Crown's appeal, but did not agree with putting McColl behind bars.
Judge Mahony said Mr Antrum was correct in ordering home detention on the first count but had erred in ordering concurrent sentences for the other seven counts.
