The woman who cheated a disabled Wanganui man out of thousands of dollars, leaving him unable to pay his rest home bill, has been sentenced to home detention.
Klazina Ann Hedges, 49, was "friends" with the victim for about six years before the offending, the Whanganui District Court heard yesterday.
"In July 2013 the victim suffered an accident at home," Judge David Cameron said.
The 65-year-old man, who had since died, was transferred to the Burwood spinal unit in Christchurch for treatment and gave his eftpos card to Hedges to pay for "incidentals" while he was away. He gave his pin number to another person as a "safeguard".
After some time in Christchurch he was transferred back to a specialist-care unit in Wanganui.
In the meantime, Hedges had gone to the other person and managed to get the pin number. She then began using the victim's card to pay for her day-to-day living.
Around May last year, the victim realised he was in arrears with his rest home bill.
Between the time he gave her the card and when he realised his money was being stolen, Hedges had used $6974.02. Of that, $4775.31 is still outstanding.
Defence lawyer Debbie Goodlet said it was not "luxury spending".
"She was using the money for her own day-to-day living - it's not like she went on a trip to Greece or anything."
Hedges had various health issues, she said.
Hedges pleaded guilty in May to dishonestly using a document for pecuniary advantage.
She has a history of similar offending in the 90s, receiving "many convictions" for the same charges in 1997, Judge Cameron said.
Hedges attended a Restorative Justice conference with victims of the latest offending, and the report writer said she was "remorseful for her actions".
"She's apologised to the deceased victim's partner and other close family," Judge Cameron said.
He sentenced her to four months of home detention and ordered her to pay the reparation figure.
Asked for comment on the case, Age Concern Wanganui manager Tracey Lynn said what Hedges did could not be minimised.
"She preyed on a vulnerable, elderly man, regardless of how she spent the money. You can't minimise it by saying she used it on day to day living ... it's not okay," Ms Lynn said.
"We're seeing this more and more often."
She felt Ms Goodlet's comments about Hedges not using the money for "luxury spending" were minimising Hedges' actions.
"That just makes a mockery of it."
Ms Lynn wanted to remind people abuse did not happen only to children. She also said it was a good time to remind people not to give their eftpos cards or pin numbers to anybody.