Fraudster avoids jail

A family’s extraordinary offer to pay more than $100,000 in reparation for a former ko¯hanga reo worker’s fraud has been the difference between jail and home detention.

Wellington District Court judge Denys Barry yesterday told Frances Edmonds that her family had taken ‘‘extraordinary steps’’ in cashing in insurance and superannuation to get the money.

Edmonds had pleaded guilty to 17 charges of using forged documents.

Te Ko¯ hanga Reo National Trust is the umbrella organisation of ko¯ hanga reo.

The judge said the trust ran a medical scheme to assist parents with funding if their children needed medical attention such as surgery.

Edmonds was employed between 2007 and 2016 and oversaw part of the medical scheme.

She created a fake dentistry company.

She filed invoices which were paid by the trust into her bank account. She received $102,494.

After she was made redundant, a search found the company did not exist and that the bank account listed was hers.

Edmonds’ family watched the sentencing from the back of the court as the judge said: ’’I salute your family.’’

‘‘I can tell you that their presence and their actions make the difference between you going to jail and not,’’ he told her.

The family had arranged to pay over $76,000 immediately with the balance being paid by April next year.

He sentenced Edmonds to six months’ home detention and 100 hours of community work.