Woman stole from grandad

A TOWNSVILLE teenager stole money from her ailing 87year- old grandfather who was dependant on oxygen supply and couldn’t leave his home, a court has heard.

Elsie Louise Moore racked up more than $ 10,000 on the elderly man’s Suncorp debit card, using the PIN number he had given her in confidence.

Moore, now aged 20, pleaded guilty in Townsville Magistrates Court to 87 counts of fraud and one count of contravening a police direction.

Prosecutor Sergeant Felicity Nalder said Suncorp was now owed $ 10,126 by Moore.

“While some of the money is spent at a service station, at Woolworths, a lot of the money is spent at Kingpin, McDonald’s, a jeweller’s, on Nutrimetics, at Red Rooster, at Pit Stop Karting, so much of it seems like it’s quite a selfish spending of someone else’s funds,” she said.

The fraudulent transactions began on Christmas Eve in 2015 and continued until August 10 last year.

Sgt Nalder said Moore was interviewed by police.

“She told police that she was given a PIN number and then she just continued to take the card and use that PIN number,” she said.

“The permission was only given for her to use the card on that first occasion.”

Defence solicitor Tristan Carlos said Moore was 18 at the time, had finished Year 12 and previously worked in childcare.

“She’s currently been working in positions of employment that require a Blue Card, her being charged with this has had an impact on that,” he said.

Magistrate Peter Smid said it was serious offending.

“I think this is a dreadful betrayal of trust – you’ve got an 87- year- old man who’s really helpless,” he said.

He sentenced her to 200 hours of community service and ordered she pay $ 10,126 in restitution to Suncorp. A conviction was not recorded.