Sophie Perniskie admits stealing from The Craic Irish Bar in Christchurch
Bar manager Sophie Perniskie stole $75,000 from her bosses, which she used to buy a car and groceries and spend on pokie machines.
Perniskie, 33, began working at The Craic Irish Bar in Christchurch in 2022 and was later promoted to manage the venue.
The owners discovered discrepancies in the financial records in 2024 and began investigating.
By January 2025 they noticed altered financial figures.
They turned to CCTV footage, which showed Perniskie taking cash from the tills.
“You took money intending to repay but got out of control,” Judge Katie Elkin told her at the Christchurch District Court today.
Judge Elkin said Perniskie was spending hundreds of dollars a week on pokies and groceries.
She stole $15,000 to pay for a car, the judge said.
“The impact on the victims was very significant, they felt a breach of trust,” the judge told her.
The thefts occurred over 10 months and came to $75,000.
“It caused incredible stress on them,” Judge Elkin said.
Perniskie entered a guilty plea in June to a representative charge of theft by a person in a special relationship.
Today at sentencing, Judge Elkin said a pre-sentence report showed the offending was driven by gambling addiction and past trauma.
Defence lawyer Kerry Cook said Perniskie was assessed as low risk of reoffending and had undertaken counselling to address gambling and mental health issues.
The court heard Perniskie repaid the victims $20,000 in February 2025 and had another $8000 she could repay within a month.
Another $55,000 had been paid out by the pub’s insurer.
Judge Elkin sentenced Perniskie to nine months’ home detention and ordered her to pay the victims $5000 to repay the insurance excess.
Perniskie was ordered to pay $3000 to the insurer and make $40 weekly payments to the insurer for three years.
“There has been a big impact on the victims and their family,” Judge Elkin said.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
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