Benefit fraud retrial denied by High Court judge

The Crown has failed to convince a High Court judge it should be able to retry a woman over alleged benefit fraud amounting to just $7285.

Theresa Marie Jeffries instead was acquitted of the remaining charges against her by Justice Cheryl Gwyn, who said a retrial was not in the interests of justice.

Gwyn’s decision, issued in August, brings to an end a saga which started for Jeffries, 59, in 2017.

The Palmerston North woman was charged with 24 fraud offences relating to her domestic purposes benefit, which the started getting in 2009.

The Ministry for Social Development alleged she failed to tell them when she was living with her husband, thereby being paid benefits above what she was entitled.

The charges related to three time periods: September 2009 to May 2010; September 2011 to November 2015 and April 2016 to October 2016.

Jeffries, whose judge-alone trial was heard in 2020 and 2021, said she did not have a partner or was separated from her husband during those times.

She was acquitted of most charges, but found guilty by Judge Bruce Northwood in April 2022 on three counts and later sentenced to 200 hours’ community work.

The evidence showed the relationship between her and her husband was unconventional and volatile, with the prosecution unable to prove she was not living apart from him during the first two time periods.

But Northwood found the pair were living together during the third period, demonstrated by affectionate text messages, plans to move to a new house and increased time together.

On appeal, Jeffries’ lawyer Paul Murray said Northwood did not address one piece of key evidence: Jeffries’ husband becoming very sick and getting worse.

She changed her living situation to provide him care and told the ministry of those changes.

She believed the ministry had sanctioned the arrangement.

Prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk said Northwood did not make a mistake, with the evidence compelling enough for the judge to reach his conclusion.

Gwyn said the judgment posttrial was long, but did not address the point about the ministry being told of the changing arrangements.

Failing to address it was an error, amounting to a miscarriage of justice, Gwyn said.

Vanderkolk had submitted the case should go back to retrial so that one point could be addressed, but Gwyn decided a full acquittal was more appropriate.

While Jeffries was accused of many charges, she was acquitted at trial of almost all.

Furthermore, the appealed allegations amounted to $7285 worth of alleged fraud, while Jeffries’ husband had since died and a retrial would require all the evidence to be heard again, Gwyn said.

‘‘Having regard to those factors I conclude that the interests of justice do not require a retrial.’’