The New Zealand Herald, June 21, 2012

A care worker and her partner who fleeced $37,500 from a 99-year-old woman told police they could have taken more.

The elderly woman had failing eyesight, no friends or family and moved into the Mercy Parklands Retirement Home in Ellerslie, Auckland for better care.

But she ended up having her bankcard stolen by 32-year-old Ranita Devi. The PIN was written beside it allowing Devi to go on a three-month spending spree with her husband, Ahlokh Chand, also 32.

When they were arrested in March, Chand tried to play down the seriousness of their stealing, telling investigators they could have stolen a lot more because one of the woman's accounts had $80,000 in it.

Their "greed" saw each sentenced in the Auckland District Court today to 10 months in prison.

They face deportation back to Fiji when they are released after serving half of that period.

"It is difficult to imagine a more vulnerable victim in our society," Judge Emma Aitken said in sentencing the duo.