Former All Black wing sentenced after stealing from grandfather
NEWS: Former All Black wing Zac Guildford has found himself on the wrong side of the law again.
The 33-year-old, who represented the All Blacks 10 times between 2009 and 2012, was sentenced to nine months’ home detention for fraud charges on Friday.
According to stuff.co.nz, Guildford admitted to stealing NZ$41 500 from his grandfather via online banking in April last year and also defrauding one of his friends of NZ$60 000 in May.
Guildford reportedly did those acts to fuel a gambling habit.
On top of that, he was also sentenced on Friday for driving charges relating to an incident in August last year.
“What’s serious about this is it is offending against someone who’s vulnerable,” Judge Noel Sainsbury said.
“It was a gross breach of trust and the impact of the offending will ripple through the family for a long time.”
Sainsbury added: “This was classic addiction driven offending.”
According to the report from stuff, at the sentencing, the former All Black’s uncle Darren Guildford said Zac was exposed to gambling and alcohol when he was a youngster and believes the death of Zac’s father also played a role in his behaviour.
In 2009, Guildford’s father Robert died within minutes of the final whistle being blown in the Baby Black’s victorious Under-20s World Championship Final against England, aged just 44.
Guildford, who starred in that match, has publicly attributed his troubles with addiction to his father’s death.
In 2011, Guildford was accused of staggering naked and bleeding into a bar and then assaulting two people.
In 2019, he pleaded guilty to an assault charge after punching a woman.
