A recidivist shoplifter has had her jail sentenced shaved by more than half, with the High Court deciding serving nearly a year in jail for dishonesty offending would be too harsh.
Jahna Mereana Mason, 37, was sentenced to 11 months' jail for shoplifting, possessing forged banknotes and breaching release conditions.
But a successful appeal to the High Court means her sentence is now only five months'.
Her offending took place between May and June 2018, starting with stealing a handbag, bottle of perfume and jewellery box from Farmers in Palmerston North.
She then went to Warehouse in Feilding, while drunk, and tried to steal a $22 handbag. The store's alarm and staff prevented a successful getaway.
She then took her offending to Tararua, when she used a counterfeit $50 note to buy a $6.50 sweatshirt from Salvation Army in Pahiatua.
She then did the same at a Tradesmart shop, getting a $2 item of clothing with another fake $50 note. She made off with $91.50 in real change.
But her ruse was found out when she went to a pub in Dannevirke and tried to get her note swapped for real money.
The owner initially gave her what she wanted, but then realised the $50 note was fake.
Mason has 37 previous convictions, most of them for shoplifting, serving multiple prison sentences for her crimes. All those prison lags were less than two months.
A pre-sentence report found her at high risk of reoffending due to her record, and recommended she got to jail for long enough to do a rehabilitation course.
She told the report writer she used methamphetamine and drank substantial quantities of alcohol daily, shoplifting to fund her addictions.
She pleaded guilty after getting a sentence indication of 12 months' jail, which was reduced by a month at sentencing due to rehab work she did while on remand.
She was also ordered to pay $100 reparation.
On appeal, her lawyer Sharyn Green said the sentence was too harsh for the kind of offending carried out.
She said non-violent offending was on the lower end of the scale so should not end in jail, especially when all Mason did with the counterfeit money is give it to the stores.
Justice David Collins said the counterfeit charges should have resulted in two months' jail, before discounts for guilty plea and other circumstances.
The added punishment for the shoplifting and release conditions charge were, as a result, also too high, Collins said.
Other submissions made by Green - that Mason's sentence should be further reduced due to the PTSD she suffered, how early her guilty plea was, and the reparation was not payable - were not accepted by Collins.
Mason's sentence was ultimately reduced to five months' jail.