The former sportsman guilty of stealing more than $100,000 from friends and whanau can now be named as Zac Guildford.
Dressed in a suit and tie, Guildford was accompanied in court on Friday by his mother, uncle, partner, and a friend.
The 32-year-old has been sentenced to nine months' home detention for his deception and theft, almost a year to the day he first stole from his grandfather.
His drivers licence has also been disqualified for six months.
The sentencing relates to charges of accessing a computer for a dishonest purpose, obtaining by deception, and driving with a suspended licence.
Between March 30 and April 9, 2021, the disgraced rugby player - who played 11 tests for the All Blacks - accessed his grandfather’s bank accounts and transferred $41,000 to his own, all while living at the grandfather’s property.
The cash was allegedly taken to fuel a gambling addiction.
The theft didn’t stop there though. Just a month later, Guildford posed as his own lawyer in a fictitious defamation case against NZME, in order to convince a friend to hand over $60,000 which he said would be used to cover the made-up legal fees.
As for the cash stolen, Guildford will be paying that back at $200 per week.
Prior to sentencing, Guildford’s uncle addressed the court and said he wanted to give some context over "how we got here".
He said he was the "proud uncle of Zac" but that today was a "sad day for ourselves, the wider community and the rugby fraternity".
He said the family have been asking themselves 'how did we get here?' in an attempt to explain how his upbringing may have influenced his actions over the past few years.
"From a very young age, the law for us was to gamble, watch the horses, and drink alcohol as a family. The TV was on trackside 24/7."
He referred to gambling as a "skeleton in the closet" for the entire family.
The uncle said he wasn't "making excuses" but wanted to explain how Guildford had been exposed to addictive behaviour growing up.
He also pointed to the death of Guildford's father as a triggering factor to what Guildford’s lawyer described as his "profound and multiple addictions".
Guildford's father Rob was in the stands at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup final in Tokyo, which Zac was playing in, and died of a heart attack shortly after New Zealand's 44-28 win against England.
“He never grieved for him,” the uncle said of Guildford.
Guildford’s had a checkered past with multiple run-ins with the law, which he has previously stated were because of alcohol and addiction problems.
In 2011 he was involved in a drunken assault in Rarotonga.
Four years later, he was found to have a $1000 a week drug habit while playing for a French rugby team.
Then in 2019 it was revealed he’d punched a woman while in the car with her, in what was described as a “savage and appalling attack”.
Guildford told police at the time he didn’t even remember doing it, which Judge Noel Sainsbury said proved just how intoxicated he was.
Judge Sainsbury told Guildford it was "inevitable" that his actions would be found out.
"The amount at stake is significant, particularly significant for an older person," he said.
"He’s your grandfather, that doesnt change. He continues to love you as his grandson. But he feels, as does his wife, absolutely devastated. What he wants is for you to get help and to fulfill the potential you have."
On Guildford's overall offending, Judge Sainsbury added: "Where there’s an addiction at this level, often behind it there’s trauma. And reports indicate there’s real issues with that and you need to deal with it."
Over the years, Guildford’s talked a lot about giving up alcohol, admitting addictions to things such as gambling, talked about waking up and wanting to change - however his actions over the last few years tell a completely different story.
It’s a dramatic fall from grace for a man who played 11 tests for the All Blacks and was once touted as the country’s hottest emerging rugby player when he first burst onto our rugby scene in 2008.
