Corey James Hall sentenced for defrauding his Tamworth workplace

Tamworth Local Court heard Corey James Hall was in a "position of trust" as an employee of BOC Gas and Gear when he took a total of $6300 from the Tamworth business across six occasions.

The 28-year-old must pay all the money back, and was ordered to remain behind bars for 12 months, with seven months non-parole.

With time served, he became eligible for release this week, but the court heard he was bail refused on another more serious matter that was progressing through the system.

Legal Aid defence solicitor Wendy McAuliffe said during sentencing submissions the court would be concerned about the "abuse of trust" because Hall defrauded the company he was working for.

"It is, for small businesses, not an insignificant amount of money," Ms McAuliffe said.

She detailed to the court traumatic factors in Hall's background, and said that while he was intelligent and well-mannered, he had "had no advantages" in his life.

The court was told Hall had started taking the drug ice about six months before the offending, and was using one-to-two grams per day at the time.

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Magistrate Julie Soars said in sentencing that Hall had a "rampant addiction" to ice at the time and "was needing to find approximately $1000-a-day to fund that", which she said could not usually be financed lawfully.

"It's conceded that he was in a position of trust as an employee," she said.

She said Hall was a young Aboriginal man who had strong troubling factors in his background, and was now focused on his rehabilitation.

She said a relatively small amount of money was taken each time.

Ms Soars told Hall she hoped he would be able to get some additional support when he was back in the community.

"You strike me as a person who can overcome those circumstances," she said.

"It's not an easy journey ... keep working on it, sir."

She said she had assessed his prospects of rehabilitation as good.

"Thank you," Hall replied.

The sentence took into account six counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Ms Soars also made compensation orders on each of the charges, which ranged from $350 to $1950 each. He will have to pay $6300 in total to BOC Gas and Gear Tamworth.

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