A Crown allegation that an accused ACC fraudster faked his medical symptoms to enable him to continue to receive compensation payments was "ludicrous", says his wife.
Lorraine Brennan, 55, hit back at the Crown allegation as she began giving evidence in the judge-alone trial of her and her husband, Grant Brennan, in Tauranga District Court yesterday.
The couple, who own Brennan Racing Ltd, are defending 88 charges of dishonestly using a document for pecuniary advantage. The charges relate to an allegation the Brennans defrauded ACC in relation to weekly compensation payments and attendant care payments, received between December 1999 and September 2011.
On April 24, 1999, Mr Brennan was assaulted by three youths while out running with his wife and son and suffered a head injury. The couple received ACC payments totalling more than $720,000 but the amount of any alleged overpayment depends on the outcome of the trial.
Mrs Brennan wept as she described the "dramatic changes" in her husband.