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Benefit frauds horrify judge
DEENA COSTER
Last updated 05:00 18/09/2014
A Taranaki judge says a staggering sum of Government money is "going out through the doors" because of benefit fraud.
Judge Allan Roberts made the comments in the New Plymouth District Court this week, when he sentenced Stratford man Graeme Joseph Bunting and two others who he said were the most recent examples in the region of people being caught out "taking from the state."
The trio stole more than $38,000 between them by failing to advise the appropriate authorities of their circumstances.
According to Ministry of Social Development figures, benefit fraud cost the country over $31 million last year, with close to $445,000 of that total connected to Taranaki prosecutions.
In Bunting's case, he was sentenced on 22 charges related to overpayments made to him by the Accident Compensation Corporation.
The 56-year-old had pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier appearance.
After making a claim to ACC following a cycling accident, Bunting submitted 17 medical certificates between June 2011 and January 2014 which said he was either unfit for work or only able to do light duties. However, during the period Bunting did work but failed to tell ACC and pocketed $15,324.13 that he was not entitled to get.
Lawyer Kelly Marriner said her client had no dishonesty history and could pay $50 a week towards the debt.
Bunting was sentenced to four months community detention with a daily curfew of 7pm-4am and ordered to pay reparation.
● Kelly Sharron Lowry, 40, caregiver, was sentenced on eight charges of using a document and one of obtaining by deception after pleading guilty at an earlier date.
From November 2011 to October 2013, Lowry received a benefit but failed to tell Winz she had been working.
Lawyer Josephine Mooney said her client had been under financial strain since her husband died in 2012 but had already started making repayments.
"She does want to make this right," Mooney said.
The judge said although the offending took place over a long period Lowry had no other convictions.
He sentenced her to 300 hours of community work and ordered her to pay $10,774.90 in reparation.
● Inglewood mother Vanessa Rupe, 28, was sentenced on two representative charges of obtaining by deception and dishonestly using a document when she appeared.
The court heard that between April 2012 and April 2013, the defendant, who was on the DPB, told Winz she was single when she was actually in a relationship with her then flatmate.
As a result, Rupe was paid $12,613.13 more than she was allowed.
Lawyer Susan Hurley said her client had accepted her wrongdoing and had since married her partner, who now worked two jobs to support the family.
The judge told Rupe she must have been aware of the risk of conviction if she was caught.
"You must have known that consequences would have followed."
She was sentenced to four months community detention, with a 7pm-7am curfew from Monday to Sunday and was ordered to do 140 hours of community work. A reparation order was also imposed.
● On July 7, a change in the law was introduced which allows for partners of benefit cheats to be prosecuted and be held responsible for any debt.
- Taranaki Daily News