Sentencing — aiding and abetting a company to apply for tax deductions — gambling — Sentencing Act 2002, ss 7, 8 & 9. The defendant appeared for sentence, having pleaded guilty to 15 charges of aiding and abetting a company to apply tax deductions for a purpose other than for payment to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. He had set up a company and paid himself money from the company account which should have been for PAYE and GST payments. He used the money to fund his gambling habit. He stole a total of $289,124.62. The Court set a starting point of one year and three months' imprisonment. Three months was added for prior similar offending, as the defendant had just completed a sentence of community detention for doing the same thing with a different company. The full 25 per cent discount was granted for an early guilty plea, meaning an end sentence of 12 months' imprisonment. The Court then considered whether a sentence of home detention was appropriate. The Court was prepared to grant this to the defendant as he had a family and another child on the way, noting it was for their benefit rather than the defendant's. The Court imposed a sentence of four months' home detention. Judgment Date: 4 March 2021.