The Court: County Court of Victoria
The Lawyer: David Dribbin
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was a former aged care assistant who, between 2003 and 2023, fraudulently obtained approximately $200,000 in Centrelink benefits by using a fake identity. The client had created a fictitious person and registered this identity with Centrelink. Through the false identity, she had claimed several entitlements for 20 years.
The client’s deception was uncovered after the Centrelink Fraud Detection team had flagged inconsistencies with the ID verification process.
Following an investigation, the client was arrested and charged with four charges of Obtaining Financial Advantage.
At Court:
Given the severe nature of the offences, our solicitor engaged in extensive negotiations with the prosecutors to try to resolve the matter.
Following lengthy discussions, the total figure was reduced from $200,000 to $145,000, and the alleged period of offending was reduced from 20 years to 10 years. More importantly, two out of the four charges were withdrawn.
The greater the amount of money defrauded and the longer the period of the offence, the more severe the likely sentence. Therefore, a reduction would likely result in the client receiving a lesser sentence, so this was a significant achievement by our solicitor.
The client pleaded guilty to the two charges, and our solicitor made submissions in mitigation. The client had made attempts to repay some of the money to Centrelink, and it was also important to note that the client had no prior criminal history.
The Outcome:
Submissions by our solicitor were made, including our client’s restitution efforts, lack of criminal history, great family support, and the client’s mental health issues were raised. Supporting documentation was also tendered to the court in support of our client. The client received a 12-month custodial sentence—six months to be served immediately and then released on a Regonizance Release Order (RRO) for the balance with specific conditions.
This was an outstanding result under the circumstances. The client’s level of offending was a serious example of Centrelink fraud. Had she pleaded guilty to the original charges, she would have served a significantly longer period in prison.
