TAC successfully prosecuted the accused in the Magistrates’ Court.

The accused was charged with fraudulently obtaining benefits and providing TAC with false and misleading information as a result of a TAC investigation.

The accused as involved in a transport on 10 February 2023 where the car that was being driven at the time ran off a suburban street.  The client sustained an injury to their left shoulder as a result.

The TAC investigation resulted in evidence being obtained which indicated the accused returned to work almost immediately after the accident as a carpenter/ labourer.  This included surveillance footage of same as well as footage of the accused playing full games of football on at least two occasions.

The accused plead guilty after obtaining a sentencing indication from the Magistrate and was self-represented at the hearing.

After hearing a summary of the offending, the court heard submissions from the accused which included a snap shot of their personal circumstances, the recent loss of a business due to debts to the business was owed not being paid.  The accused’s family dynamics which include a child with a disability.  The accused advised the court they were now working as a builders labourer.  The accused noted a previous recreational drug use and gambling habit which the accused has now overcome thanks to assistance from a church – the accused noting they are a born again Christian.  The accused advised that this offending was due to need not greed and that the accused wasn’t working full time hours and what they were earning at the time was not sufficient to provide for their family.

The prosecution was then afforded the opportunity to provide submissions on sentence, these submissions centred on the need for denunciation and general deterrence, that a conviction was appropriate given the lengthy period the offending occurred over and it was aggravated by the positive acts of regularly providing false CoC’s

HH Magistrate then handed down their sentence =

Without Conviction the client was sentenced to a 12 month Community Corrections Order with a condition that they perform 70 hours of unpaid community work.  They were also ordered to pay TAC $31,898.00 in compensation as well as $2,715.00 in professional costs.

In their sentencing remarks HH provided the following, with this sort of offending sentencing needed to reflect denunciation and general deterrence to send a message to the community that this sort of offending is not acceptable.  They noted the seriousness of the offending and that the community expect the money TAC receive from registrations should be available for those that need it.  On the issue of Conviction HH noted the prosecutions position but also noted the accused had no criminal history and because they had pleaded guilty, they would not impose a conviction.

Restitution:	$31,898
Total Fines:	$
Disbursements:	$
Statutory Costs:	$
Professional Costs:	$2,715

Stay: