Woman who sold pups but did not deliver gets home detention

The Dannevirke woman had more than 100 convictions for fraud.

A woman who sold puppies but never delivered them was sentenced to home detention in Dannevirke District Court on Friday.

Georja Renee Watts, 40, had 109 previous convictions for fraud and has a history of dishonesty and non-compliance, the court was told.

Her latest offending dated to September last year when she advertised puppies for sale, but once she had the money, she cut off all contact with the buyers and never delivered them.

"Whether they existed or not, no one seems to know," Judge Jonathan Krebs said.

She claimed she had been selling the puppies on behalf of someone else.

She was paid $1200 for each of two puppies and $1000 for a third.

Her solicitor Lisa Grant told Judge Krebs that Watts suffered from ADHD and other mental health issues but she was getting help for those.

However, this did nothing to sway the judge who said he had seen no medical evidence to support the claim of ADHD.

"There are other people with this in the community and they don't commit fraud."

Her last conviction had been in 2018.

"Yet here she is in court again," Judge Krebs said.

A conviction of fraud carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.

Grant suggested community detention as Watts had a child, however, Judge Krebs rejected that.

"This was a planned scheme. It was not spontaneous."

Watts was sentenced to four months and two weeks of home detention and ordered to pay reparation totalling $3400.