THE OWNERS of the Golden Vine hotel say they don’t want other businesses to be stuck in the financial situation they’ve been left in at the hands of Chris O’Sullivan.
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O’Sullivan stole at least $4300 in the 12 months he worked at the King Street hotel.
Co-owner Liz Wright – who was in hospital through much of early 2012 – said O’Sullivan was regularly taking money from the cash register, along with charity collection tins.
Her partner Mark Elliott was working up to 16 hours a day during the period and said floats and cash totals consistently were not adding up.
Ms Wright said she believed there was “substantially more” money taken than the $4300 he has been ordered to pay back.
“We had to dip into our personal savings to restock the float and replace charity money,” she said. “From our point of view, it was hard not only with the thefts, but the flow-on effects and the financial restraints that it put on us.”
Ms Wright said it was difficult to see someone who was a very approachable, friendly person, go behind their backs and steal from them.
“It’s made us very wary of people and a bit more suspicious I suppose,” she said. “I just don’t want to see this happen to anyone again. That would be the most tragic thing.”