Theft of dead mum’s pension

A SOUTHERN Tasmanian man who continued to collect his dead mother’s aged pension for more than 14 years has been sentenced to 3½ years in prison.

In the Supreme Court in Hobart before Justice Gregory Geason yesterday, Michael Deede, 58, pleaded guilty to theft.

The court heard that from January 16, 2003 until September 18, 2018, Deede received just shy of $250,000 in aged pension payments from Centrelink he was not entitled to.

Deede’s mother had been receiving the payments until her death in 1995, but he did not inform Centrelink of her death.

Her pension continued to be deposited into her bank account, which Deede then either withdrew as cash or transferred into an account of his own, the court heard.

There were several times when the pension was suspended over the more than 14 years of offending, and Deede would contact the Department of Human Services to update his mother’s details.

On one occasion, in July 2005, he said his mother was “severely disabled” and could not talk on the phone or visit a Centrelink branch.

His offending was not discovered until 2018 after the department did an audit of all aged pensioners older than 90.

The court heard that in an interview with the department after his offending was detected, he said he had seen his mother’s death as an opportunity to help with his financial difficulties.

Justice Geason described Deede’s offending as “prolonged dishonesty” done in the aftermath of his mother’s death where he held concerns for his own future.

“You had a multitude of opportunities to desist and you did not,” Justice Geason said.

“I accept that you had a sense of entitlement from your family — you saw your upbringing as one having a lack of love, and I accept that you have lived a life of deprivation.”

Justice Geason said Deede was “not fundamentally a bad person” and there was a repayment system in place, but it was “doubtful” the full $250,000 would be repaid.

“Offending of this kind undermines the integrity of the aged pension and is also a great burden on taxpayers,” Justice Geason said.

Deede was sentenced to 3½ years in prison and must serve a minimum of 18 months.