Ex-All Black sentenced to home detention after stealing thousands from grandfather

Disgraced ex-All Blacks wing Zac Guildford has been sentenced to nine months' home detention for fraud charges, which includes stealing from his grandfather.

According to New Zealand's Stuff website, the 33-year-old admitted to stealing $41 500 from his grandfather via online banking and to another charge of defrauding a friend of $60 000 in May. Both acts were driven by a gambling addiction.

Guildford was also sentenced on Friday to driving charges relating to an incident last August.

"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. This was classic addiction driven offending."

Guildford played 10 Tests for the All Blacks between 2009 and 2011.

But his career was derailed by alcohol and mental health problems.

In November 2011, he was accused of drunken naked assaults during an alcohol-fuelled series of incidents.

In April 2021, Guildford dropped an appeal to keep his name suppressed in court after he pleaded guilty to punching a woman in the face in 2019.