‘Despicable’ gran sent back to NZ
A grandmother who cheated a dementia sufferer out of her home is being deported back to New Zealand – despite not living here for more than 30 years.
Francesca Jean Marzella, 63, was convicted of ‘‘despicable’’ elder abuse after selling the home of an elderly Gold Coast neighbour and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a year-long holiday to Europe.
Despite not having lived in New Zealand since 1984 and being seriously ill with Crohn’s disease, Marzella is being deported after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia upheld an order from the Australian Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton.
Marzella’s offending began in 2004. She befriended the 89-yearold nursing home resident, who was her former next door neighbour, getting her to sign over her $520,000 home.
She sold the home on the internet for about $370,000 and transferred the stolen cash to an account in London.
Marzella assumed different identities while on the run – obtaining Australian and British passports under the names Marilyn Gray Howitt and Taylor Scheaffer. She was eventually arrested when she returned to Australia in 2008, and charged with fraud.
The victim, Marguerite Stewart, died in 2011.
Marzella spent three months on remand, and then fled after she was released on bail. She lived for another five years in Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, where she was eventually arrested in 2014.
She was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in June 2015.
The sentencing judge described her behaviour as ‘‘despicable’’.
During a tribunal hearing, it emerged Marzella had applied for Australian residency under one of her assumed identities, and her husband Michael Mugridge, a former lawyer, had sponsored her.
Mugridge was due to represent his wife at her tribunal hearing but disappeared when told he would be cross-examined.
Marzella, 63, was granted parole on October 8, 2015 after serving four months in prison due to time already served.
The tribunal was told her son Daniel died while she was in prison, and she would be a caregiver for her 8-year-old grandson upon release.
Marzella had worked as a nurse and horse trainer since moving to Australia with her three children in 1984.
In upholding the decision to deport her, tribunal deputy president
Fraud requires a degree of charm and an unthreatening appearance. Ms Marzella certainly has all of that. Administrative Appeals Tribunal deputy president Bernard McCabe
Bernard McCabe said: ‘‘Fraud is not an activity that requires a great deal of physical stamina. It requires a degree of charm and an unthreatening appearance. Ms Marzella certainly has all of that.’’