Court bid to keep car
Fraudster’s ex-partner in Mustang quest Textbook recipe for disaster
THE ex-partner of a man found guilty of a $1.6 million fraud is fighting to keep her vintage Ford Mustang after a court ordered it be handed over to the victims as compensation.
Anthony Francis McEwan, 52 was jailed for nine years in May for stealing the huge sum from Cairns produce business Simon George and Sons while working there over 10 years.
A Supreme Court justice ordered in August that McEwan pay the company almost $2.3 million, taking into account interest and costs and declared he owned four classic cars, including the 1966 model Mustang convertible.
McEwan’s former partner Paulette Ryan has now lodged documents in the Supreme Court, claiming the car belongs to her and should not be seized.
She said she is the registered owner of the vehicle and took possession of it in 2010 after swapping it for her 1955 Chevrolet coupe with a woman whose husband owns a car importation business.
Ms Ryan said she asked her new partner McEwan to register the car in his name as he was in a car club called the Hot Rodical Car Club where members received discounts on their registration.
“At the time I could not join the club as I was told that females could not join,” she claims.
“I believe that was an informal policy of the club,” she said.
“It was a small club that numbered only 13 people and (McEwan) was the President.”
Ms Ryan said McEwan “relented” and allowed her to join the club in 2013 which was when she transferred the car into her own name.
“No money was paid to (McEwan) for the transfer of the Ford Mustang as the motor vehicle never belonged to him and I say that he simply held the legal title on trust for myself,” she stated. She said the pair had separate finances and homes during the course of their relationship which ran for six years until he was found guilty by a jury in May.
The matter is due to be heard in the Cairns Supreme Court on October 27.
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ONE in five motorists has had a near-miss on the roads because other drivers have been distracted by their mobile phones.
And almost a fifth of motorists admit to reading text messages while driving and using their phones illegally.
NRMA director Tim Trumper said new research showed that drivers were twice as likely to have a crash if they took their eyes off the road for two seconds or more.
“If you’re using your phone illegally behind the wheel you’ll have slower reaction times, you’ll struggle to maintain control of the car and you’ll be less aware of your surroundings,” he said.
The NRMA’s Can’t Talk. Driving report, released today, details research and surveys which reveal that young people under the age of 26 account for almost half of all crashes involving phones.
More than 60 per cent of people who use their phone illegally while driving expect to get caught.
The report calls for a review of the effectiveness of the state government’s Get Your Hand Off It campaign, and for new technology to be introduced to stop illegal phone use.