Benefit fraudster just avoids jail

A woman escaped jail-time "by the skin of her teeth" yesterday when she was sentenced for ripping off the Ministry of Social Development more than $60,000.

Housewife Staume Melinda Zank, 25, stood red faced and wide-eyed in the dock as she received a stern dressing down from Judge Thomas Ingram for her "abuse of trust".

The court heard Zank had lied on benefit forms claiming she was a solo mum when in fact she was living with a partner in a marriage-type of situation.

Over the course of four years Zank was overpaid $60,248.16 worth of sickness and domestic purposes benefit support payments. She faced nine charges of dishonestly using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage and two charges of obtaining by deception.

Zank's two young children were used by Zank's lawyer in attempt to steer the judge's ruling away from a penalty of imprisonment.

"The benefit of home detention is she is punished but her children are not punished," she said.

"The start of the offending happened at a time when Miss Zank had just fallen pregnant with her first child. Her partner, the father of the child was extremely unreliable and it was quite evident he was often away in other parts of the country.

"Miss Zank has grown up in a very difficult childhood and as a result she was determined to give her young children the stable and secure homelife that she did not have."

Judge Ingram questioned why Zank had to resort to fraud to be able to do that. He also questioned how the money will ever be repaid with Zank currently paying $5 a week.

"She would have to take 240 years to pay that back. It's simply not going to happen is it?" Judge Ingram said.

Judge Ingram referred to a Court of Appeal ruling suggesting such a situation required a penalty of home detention.

"In my experience with this ... home detention is obviously no deterrent for people who are of the mind to defraud the tax payer and wider community.

"If it were not for the Court of Appeal I would be sending you to prison today," Judge Ingram told Zank.

"It's obviously an abuse of trust and it is premeditated behaviour repeated over a period of four years."

Zank nodded her head to everything Judge Ingram said, but turned away when photographs were taken.

"You have avoided going to prison today by the skin of your teeth young lady," Judge Ingram said.

Ministry of Social Development general manager of integrity services Justine Auton said they pursued every fraud debt for as long as it took. "Today's sentencing should show the Bay of Plenty community that the Ministry takes a zero tolerance to benefit fraud and where we find evidence of offending we will prosecute."

THINKING OF RIPPING OFF THE SYSTEM?

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  The Ministry of Social Development has 95 fraud investigators committed to catch offenders and bring them to justice.
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  The Ministry also routinely undertakes data matching and data mining - and each year they check around 538 million records through this programme.
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  Each year the Ministry manages around 140 million transactions and administers $16 billion dollars worth of social assistance to more than 1 million people.
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  Benefit fraud makes up one-tenth of one per cent of the total spend.

Ministry of Social Development