A youth marching team was unable to travel to a national competition after a trusted coach stole thousands of dollars from the fundraising kitty.
The deception left young members of the Ashton Kilties under-13 marching team confused about why they couldn’t attend an event they had worked so hard to raise money for.
It’s also seen the end of the team, which has since dissolved as a result of Jodie Wastney’s actions.
Wastney, also known as Jodie Jenkins, was caught after the treasurer blew the whistle on her.
On Monday she appeared in the Nelson District Court where she was set to defend charges of theft by person in a special relationship and failing to appear in court earlier.
Instead, she pleaded guilty, watched by a contingent of adults from the marching team.
The guilty pleas were additional to other charges she admitted last year which were unrelated, after an incident while travelling in a car with her family.
The $3280 taken by Wastney, which was the amount police were able to trace, was money raised by the team to help them travel to the South Island Championships and a national competition.
Wastney instead used the money she siphoned over several months to go shopping and buy groceries.
Marching Nelson Association treasurer Kauri Marsden, who was instrumental in getting Wastney charged, told NZME outside court that while the past 18 months had been hugely frustrating, and sad for the team, it was relief in part that Wastney finally confessed.
“She could have pleaded guilty 18 months ago. She’s mucked us all around,” Marsden said.
She said the offending had “blown the team apart”, especially as some of the association life-members were initially reticent about the allegations.
It had also broken the trust of the young team members who had missed out on the planned championship events.
“There’s no team. It’s impacted the whole association which is now dissolved,” Marsden said.
The Ashton Kilties were described as a prominent under-13 team based in the top of the South Island, affiliated with Marching Nelson.
They were a well-regarded, competitive team, often winning technical and display titles in local championships.
Wastney began coaching the team at the start of April 2023, according to the police summary of facts.
She created the team’s bank account and gave parents the details for them to deposit funds.
The children and their parents then started a fundraising appeal for the team to travel to the South Island and national competitions.
They arranged stalls, barbecues, raffles, and sponsorships. The parents were also required to pay a $250 registration fee into the same bank account, police said.
They said analysis of the relevant bank accounts showed between June and November 2023, Wastney made 26 transactions in small amounts of no more than $250 at a time from the account, totalling $3280.
Police said Wastney spent the money at various retail and food shops.
They also said a large amount of cash was given directly to Wastney.
However, there was no record of exactly how much as she never provided correct up-to-date receipts to the treasurers.
Marsden said it would take a while to rebuild the association and for the young athletes to regain their trust in adult sports coaches.
“A lot of the girls didn’t understand what had happened because they were quite young, you know, 8 to 12-year-old kids.
“They didn’t understand why they couldn’t go to nationals when they’d done all this fundraising.”
Marsden said as consolation, extra fundraising helped them get to a competition in Christchurch instead.
“It was a lot cheaper just to get in a van and drive to Christchurch and stay the night and come back,” Marsden said.
Wastney, under the name Jodie Jenkins, had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of driving in a dangerous manner and assault, after an incident in October last year when she was a passenger in a car driven by her husband, who was also facing a charge, police said.
The couple’s two children were also in the car when an argument erupted between the parents.
Jenkins was to have been dropped off in Motueka, when she demanded her husband stop the car so that she could get out, but he allegedly refused.
She then hit him on the arm with the back of her closed fist and pulled on the handbrake.
The vehicle lost traction and the tyres skidded on a one-lane bridge they were crossing at the time.
The husband pulled over once they were across the bridge and the altercation was alleged to have continued, police said.
Wastney was remanded on bail, with leave to apply to be remanded at large, for sentencing in August.
