A Werribee mother of two who defrauded Centrelink of more than $10,000 has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Werribee Magistrates Court heard last Wednesday that the woman received parenting payments from Centrelink from November 2010 to February 2013 while working at Woolworths.
Prosecutor Aman Dhillon told the court that while the woman notified Centrelink of her new job, she under-declared how much she was earning.
“Although during the charge period the accused earned $73,233.26, she only declared earnings totalling $38,052.06,” Mr Dhillon said. “She made 47 false declarations.”
As a result, the woman received $12,418.98 from Centrelink that she was not entitled to. After repaying $1454.07, she still owes just under $11,000.
The woman’s defence argued that she should be shown some leniency as during the period she was offending she was suffering from an amphetamine addiction, which lasted more than 15 years, and had severe financial hardship.
Her defence argued that she had recently taken steps to end her drug addiction, but magistrate Richard Pithouse said that was “in the shadow of going to court and in the shadow of going to jail”.
He sentenced the woman to three months in prison, wholly suspended for two years, and ordered her to repay $10,964.91 plus $203.95 in costs.
