Dying fraudster: My final interview
A social media campaign saw jailed Kiwi Fern Vicki Letele released from prison to face her final days alongside her family. By Lee Umbers.
WHENVicki Letele was released from prison on compassionate grounds, her greatest joy was being able to see the faces of her loved ones for her final days.
But now the 36-year-old mother-of-three, in jail for mortgage fraud offences when she was given just five months to live last September, is battling to save her sight.
Letele has revealed her deadly stomach cancer has spread, forming tumours behind muscles in her eyes, temporarily blinding her. She is preparing to start radiation treatment on Thursday.
And after being readmitted to Middlemore Hospital, she said scans have revealed the disease has also now extended to her spine, liver, bladder and gallbladder. Yesterday she began a five-day course of radiation treatment at Auckland Hospital.
Letele is fighting the disease with the same determination that saw her pack down in the front row of a World Cup-winning Kiwi Ferns league squad.
‘‘The moment I found out that I had cancer, every day became precious and purposeful... I don’t think we really appreciate time until time is knocking on our door,’’ Letele said, propped up in her bed to which she is now largely confined in her south Auckland home.
And she’s fully aware there will be some who think she ought to stay behind bars despite her illness. ‘‘I understand where they’re coming from,’’ Letele said. ‘‘Right from the very beginning I was doing my time. But I think things need to be re-looked at when you’re given a time frame on your life.’’
She was also concerned other inmates faced with lifethreatening conditions might not get the chance she had to go home to their family, because they wouldn’t have the same support she received from her pro boxer brother David ‘‘Brown Buttabean’’ Letele.
Letele is taking comfort from the closeness of her partner of 16 years, Leah, Leah’s teenage daughter, whom she loves as her own, and their two young boys.
She is also drawing strength from her faith. She began a course in theology in February, and prays to God regularly. ‘‘Every day I wake up, the first thing I do is get on my knees and say, ‘Thank you that you woke me up’.’’
Letele was sentenced last March to three years and two months for 10 counts of mortgage fraud. Within weeks she began suffering stomach cramps and by mid-June ‘‘it just got worse and worse’’.
Letele was taken to Middlemore Hospital in September and, despite undergoing surgery on a large tumour in her stomach, was hit with the shattering news the cancer was terminal. She was given five months. ‘‘I just cried. But I cried more for my family.’’
Determined to spend her remaining time with loved ones, she applied for release on compassionate grounds. When that was refused, David Letele, 37, went into battle for his younger sister asking his nearly 60,000 social media followers to share posts calling for her release. ‘‘It just created a massive wave of PETER MEECHAM / FAIRFAX NZ momentum.’’ He started the hashtag #FreeVicki, organised a petition he says was signed by close to 20,000 and helped arrange a protest outside Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility.
Letele was not surprised by her brother’s support as he’d always been protective of her. ‘‘Even though we had our differences and our own opinions on matters, when it came down to the crunch he would always have my back.’’
Letele was released in November saying she was truly ‘‘grateful, and appreciative, and thankful’’ to her supporters.
She has been able to celebrate her birthday, four days after her release, and attend David’s wedding to Koreen in January, at Waiheke Island but started to lose vision a couple of months ago, her sight totally failing for days last month.
She said her happiest times have been with family. ‘‘I don’t think I have regrets, but I think I’ve made… some bad choices. But in saying that ... you learn from them.’’
David Letele said his sister was ‘‘probably the bravest person I know’’.
‘‘Thank you for being such an awesome sister and sorry I couldn’t bear this burden for you.’’
‘ I don’t think I have regrets, but I think I’ve made … some bad choices.’ VICKI LETELE