Sharon Nitschke has avoided a jail sentence after pleading guilty to stealing $250,000 from the Riverland Vine Improvement Committee.
Instead, she was handed a three-year home detention sentence, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
Nitschke was responsible for the committee’s accounting, invoicing and payroll when she stole the money.
Between 2015 and 2017, Nitschke used the money to make purchases including $8500 on travel, $2000 on jewellery, $2500 on wedding photography, $2000 on electronics, $3000 on her car, $2000 on a puppy and more than $7000 on a cruise.
District Court judge Rauf Soulio said Nitschke had made genuine attempts to repay some of the money, including selling her house to pay back a $50,000 lump sum.
The court heard she has paid back more than $91,000 in total, and that her husband had also lost his job after her arrest and remains unemployed.
Prosecutors had asked that Nitschke be jailed immediately, arguing a custodial sentence is the only appropriate penalty.
But Judge Soulio took into account a document he received from her former employer.
“A deed has been entered between Nitschke and the victim of the offending … there has been partial, but significant, restitution (made),” he said.
“There is also an apparent willingness to accept ongoing restitution from her … quite clearly, that deed would be annulled in the event there was immediate imprisonment.”
The Riverland Vine Improvement Committee’s objectives are to identify clones with high health status and performance; promote and improve knowledge of new varieties; and produce and supply improved vine material to meet the changing requirements of the grape industry.
Riverland Wine once described Nitschke as “a quiet achiever, hard worker and a lot of fun.”
“Sharon Nitschke has been in the wine game for many years, after purchasing a small fruit block with her husband David in the 80s,” it noted.
