Family’s frustration at fraudster sentence
The family of a 92-year-old woman whose life savings were stolen are angered that a fraudster will get away with a lighter sentence after police failed to link her to previous offending.
A botch-up meant sentencing Judge Christopher Field had no idea convicted conwoman Lisa Donnelly had defrauded the Ministry of Social Development of nearly $2 million under a different name.
Donnelly was jailed for more than five years for that offending, and came before the courts again in June after admitting two charges of using a 92-year-old’s bank card to steal the victim’s life savings totalling $36,000.
She was sentenced to seven months home detention and 150 hours community work by Judge Field who wasn’t briefed on Donnelly’s extensive criminal history by police prosecution – who also had no idea of Donnelly’s aliases.
The error was identified by Donnelly’s lawyer after sentencing, but Judge Field declined to re-sentence her. Police wanted to appeal the sentence, but the deputy SolicitorGeneral declined request.
The victim’s granddaughter Claudine Crabtree said the family had been put through a ‘‘really frustrating and disappointing’’ annoying experience.
They planned to lodge a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority about the handling of the prosecution and the error in linking the aliases.
Police assurances of a review was little comfort, Crabtree said. ‘‘I’d like to know what that is and what the changes are. How did they mess it in the first place? It’s a fairly critical issue.’’
To qualify for an appeal the sentence must be considered ‘‘manifestly inadequate’’ and in Donnelly’s case it was only likely to increase her home detention sentence by a few months, police said.
A police investigation into how prosecutors hadn’t linked Donnelly to her former alias, Lisa Clement, lead police to believe the mistake was ‘‘human error,’’ police national prosecutions manager Gary Allcock said.
During her 2003 prosecution for her Work and Income fraud, Donnelly’s fingerprints hadn’t been taken because the charges were laid by the Serious Fraud Office. Without fingerprints, her alias hadn’t been linked to her police record number, Allcock said.
‘‘‘This incident has initiated a review of police’s current procedures when checking an offender’s previous convictions and potential changes . . . Police attach a high level of important to the interests of victims in such matters and have met with the victim’s family and explained this decision to them.’’ and the