Former Priest Succeeds in Appealing Sentence
Newstalk ZB
A former Catholic priest in Christchurch who admitted stealing hundreds of thousands of church money, has successfully appealed his jail sentence. John Fitzmaurice was jailed for two years in February, after admitting eight charges of dishonestly using documents and obtaining money by deception. He committed more than 700 dishonest transactions amounting to $149,000. The 57-year-old appealed the sentence on a number of grounds including his remorse, his depression and pathological gambling disorder and the period of offending which was five-and-a-half years. The Court of Appeal has released its decision, converting his two-year jail term to 10 months home detention. Fitzmaurice will also have to complete 300 hours community work.
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