Cancer lies end in jail

KELLY Val Smith “created a fanciful world” to scam tens of thousands of dollars from her family and friends over a fake cancer diagnosis and other lies.

The Adelaide woman told her victims she had ovarian cancer, that her son needed a serious heart operation and that she was to get a $1 million victims of crime payout.

She duped some into buying expensive properties on a promise she would gift them large sums of money, in one case $2 million. She also convinced the same person to cover the $97,000 cost of booking a 70-person suite for an event in Melbourne.

In sentencing yesterday, South Australian District Court Chief Judge Michael Evans said Smith had told a string of lies over an extended period of time in her desire to be liked.

“You created a fanciful world that gave you empowerment,” Judge Evans said in reference to a psychological assessment of the 40-year-old.

“However, you were unable to control it.”

Judge Evans said Smith’s offending between 2012 and 2015 breached friendships.

“Your offending was elaborate and yet unsophisticated. It was consistent and persistent over a long period of time,” he said.

Judge Evans jailed Smith for four years and 19 days and imposed a non-parole period of two years.