A woman who stole thousands of dollars' worth of gold jewellery from an elderly couple while employed as a cleaner has been sentenced to three months in home detention.
In 2018, Mary Ann Walker was employed by Guardian Aged Services to provide weekly cleaning services for the parents of Tasmanian celebrity chef Massimo Mele.
Maria and Vincenzo Mele became clients of the agency after Mr Mele had a stroke and quadruple bypass heart surgery.
He needed a carer to come in and help him shower daily, and Walker was also sent as a cleaner for three hours once a week.
Items pawned for fraction of value
Walker had been working for the couple for less than two months when she stole three pieces of jewellery from them.
The Hobart Magistrates Court heard Walker took the two gold bracelets and a gold ring to Cash Converters where she produced her licence in order to sell them.
Cash Converters gave her a total of $480 for the pieces. The Meles estimated the value of the jewellery to be about $12,000.
The court earlier heard Walker told staff the jewellery belonged to her grandparents and she was selling it because she needed money to pay a power bill.
The jewellery was recovered from the store and Walker was charged with two counts of stealing.
She pleaded not guilty to both but was later found guilty by Magistrate Rob Webster.
The exact value of the jewellery was never resolved by the court and sits somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000, with the prosecution arguing it was the latter.
Mr Webster said the monetary value did not weight heavily on sentencing, as it was the sentimental value of the jewellery that was most important.
The court heard Mrs Mele had purchased her gold bracelet in Naples more than 40 years ago and she was with her mother in Italy when she purchased Mr Mele's bracelet.
The ring Walker had stolen was Mr Mele's wedding ring and had Mrs Mele's name and their wedding date inscribed on it. When interviewed by police, Walker had been unable to explain the engraving.
"[It is] far more important than the dollar value of the jewellery."
No evidence of remorse
In sentencing, Mr Webster said it was a "serious example of this offence".
"It involved a blatant breach of trust and although you were not directly employed by Mr and Mrs Mele, you were employed by the agency [to clean for them] and you were trusted by them to do the right thing when you entered their home," he said.
"The complainants were elderly and vulnerable and Mr Mele is not a well man.
"I have seen absolutely no evidence of remorse shown whatsoever."
Mr Webster sentenced Walker to three months in home detention and ordered she pay costs of $506.
