Ebony Rapana fled court moments after she was sentenced for stealing more than $8000 worth of items from Nelson supermarkets. Photo: Tracy Neal Despite no longer being in that situation, having found a home to rent, she now has to pay the money back and serve four months of community detention. Rapana covered her face and fled the dock in the Nelson District Court on Friday, moments after Judge Tony Zohrab granted the right for media to take photos in court.
She had just been sentenced on nine shoplifting charges she admitted in April. She said she was desperate at the time and she had shared what she took with others who were in the same position. Woman stole $8278 in groceries Four charges were for theft of goods worth over $1000.
In total, she stole items worth $8278 from several Countdown stores over 10 months from July 2022. Rapana’s most expensive outing was in July 2022, when she walked out of a central Nelson Countdown supermarket with a trolley-load of goods including health and beauty products, meat and confectionary worth almost $1300. She was seen on CCTV walking the trolley out of the store.
Police said Rapana’s method was to place low-value items on top of the trolley and walk out. On August 9, 2022, she returned to Countdown, loaded a trolley and once more tried to conceal items by placing low-value items on top. On that occasion, the theft of goods totalled $639.
A few days later she was back at the same store, where she loaded a trolley and walked through.