1.30PM: A jury at the Auckland District Court this morning heard that during his eight months as an employee of the Auckland Pride Centre, Martin Van der Reit is alleged to have stolen $35,000 from the organisation's coffers.

Van der Reit faces seventeen charges of fraud and one charge of perverting the course of justice. Crown prosecutors say that while employed as a part time coordinator van der Reit fraudulently withdrew money from the Pride Centre using pre-signed cheques ranging in value from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Soon after, the Pride Centre, which aimed to provide information, resources and a meeting place for glbt people, closed its doors and has never re-opened.

In evidence, the Centre's long-time trustee Edward Bennett said that in February 2004 the Centre became aware that it unexpectedly could not meet regularly scheduled payments such as rent on its Karangahape Road premises. He said that when summoned by Centre trustees to a March 2004 meeting to discuss the discrepancies, Van der Reit failed to appear and a check of the office revealed that his personal effects and financial records had been removed. However, a copy of his employment contract remained. The Pride Centre contends this contract had been illegally altered to state that van der Reit was employed full time, rather than part time, with a salary far in excess of that originally negotiated.

On the witness stand this morning Bennett said that the growing realisation of the situation, which he describes as a "devastating surprise," drove him to "the verge of hysteria." Asked if the salary of $55,000 listed on the allegedly altered contract could have been a genuine salary, Bennett stated that "had we had $55,000 to pay a coordinator, the Pride Centre would have been a very different organisation."

In her instructions to the jury Judge Bouchier advised them to put aside any personal attitudes to the sexuality of the accused and the nature of the Centre's work and to focus solely on the evidence presented in court.

The case is expected to run for much of this week.

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Jury hears of "devastating" Pride fraud