One of the friends sold his Auckland property to move to the area, buying two adjacent sections.
The woman - who still denies any wrongdoing - moved into a house bus on one property in 2016, while the two friends lived in a house on the adjoining section.
There was no formal tenancy agreement and instead she was expected to do general maintenance in exchange for rent and grazing for her horses.
While things initially went well, two years later there was a breakdown in the friendship between the woman and the owner, after she asked him to leave her the property in his will.
He then issued a trespass order, giving her 90 days to leave, and in response on the same day, the woman filed proceedings in the Tenancy Tribunal.
This would see her go on to produce fake evidence purported to be from the other friend, an SPCA, a council, and a sexual violence survivor advocate.
The tribunal found in her favour and the victim was ordered to pay her more than $6000 and have her tenancy reinstated.
She was also convicted of defrauding documentation from an insurance company and Waka Kotahi over the sale of a vehicle to another man on Facebook.
However, after investigating, police discovered she had falsified documents.
The woman manipulated emails stating the victim was falsely “dangerous, manipulative and cruel, and that the property she lived on was hers”, while emails purportedly from the SPCA said he had a “documented history of cruelty and neglect”.
Fake emails from the council stated the house bus she lived in was considered a building and not a vehicle.
She also falsified documents from a council rates officer to appear to confirm that when the woman went into the office with the victim to pay rates, he made it clear he intended to leave the property to her. “He was quite adamant about it, that was his choice”, she had written pretending to be the rates officer.
She also falsified documents from a sexual violence advocate wrongly claiming the victim had a “history of violence, attacks on women”.
Insurance company forgeries involved her putting a horse float in her name and then filing a claim that it had been stolen, totalling $4000.
The vehicle sale saw the woman tell the buyer that the vehicle he bought was stolen and she wanted it back, before filing proceedings in the Disputes Tribunal. She then falsified further documents, including from a court registrar and Waka Kotahi about proof of ownership.
In his reserved decision finding her guilty at trial, Judge Mabey found there was a “consistent pattern of fraud”.
He said her counsel Megan Dempster’s attempts to support the veracity of her client’s testimony “were gallant but failed to successfully address what I see as inherent implausibility and blatant lies”.
She was convicted of 17 charges of using forged documents, using altered documents, dishonestly using a document, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Today, Crown prosecutor Bayden Harris urged Judge Mabey to jail the woman even if he did reach the two-year mark which made home detention a possibility.
“This was deliberate offending that was designed to deceive a judicial body for the defendant’s own personal gain.
“It was calculated and premeditated deceit where she altered a range of documents to get the result she wanted.
“It was repetitive, [it] occurred over a long period of time.
“It is offending that strikes at the heart of justice.”
He also took issue with a report produced by the defence from a “registered clinical psychologist”.
Harris said he researched the woman and found she was instead a “holistic psychologist”.
Judge Mabey said it didn’t matter as there was nothing in the psychologist’s report - a two-page letter - which would help the defendant anyway.
“It’s certainly not of any value. I don’t give it any weight as a professional opinion,” the judge said.
Dempster asked for discounts from her client’s Section 27 report which revealed her poor upbringing as well as her own mental health struggles, along with her previous good character.
Dempster said it was integral to keep her out of jail for the sake of her children. Two are her own, while she’s also a foster for two other children who are “completely reliant” on her care as her husband works full-time.
One of her children was also extremely sick and required a specific feeding regime.
When Judge Mabey indicated at this stage that he wouldn’t send her to prison, the woman fell forward in her seat in the dock, collapsing to the floor and causing a 10-minute pause in proceedings.
“After hearing evidence over five days I found that all charges were proven and rejected the defence case entirely,” the judge said after returning to sentence the woman.
“[Her] explanations defied logic and credibility.
“The only person to benefit from these crimes was [the defendant] and the only candidate for the use of documents ... was her and only her.”
He accepted she was a first offender and deserved credit for her otherwise good character.
Judge Mabey said if it wasn’t for the ill health of her child he would be sending her to jail.
Instead, he sentenced her to the maximum home detention sentence of 12 months.
