Rotorua District Court, where Pene Raroa was sentenced. Photo / Andrew Warner
For nearly four years, Pene Raroa fooled the Ministry of Social Development he was single - clocking up more than $40,000 in benefits he wasn’t entitled to.
He used sophisticated methods to prove he wasn’t living with his partner, which meant he got a single person’s benefit rather than one of a person in a relationship.
He’s now been sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to four charges.
Sentencing notes recently released to the Rotorua Daily Post detailed Raroa’s offending.
He was sentenced on August 7 in the Rotorua District Court by Judge Greg Hollister-Jones after pleading guilty to a representative charge of obtaining by deception, a representative charge of dishonestly using a document, a representative charge of using a forged document and a charge of using an altered document.
A representative charge means the offending happened more than once.
The sentencing notes said Raroa received a single person’s benefit between September 2015 and July 2019 when he was living with his partner Gail Hotene, who was also on a single person’s benefit.
Hotene is described in the sentencing notes as Raroa’s co-offender. She is due to be sentenced in the Manukau District Court on September 11.
The sentencing notes said Raroa submitted 19 forms to the ministry falsely stating he was single and submitted tenancy information that was incorrect or dishonest.
On December 14, 2017, he submitted a tenancy agreement for a property in Papakura when in fact his partner’s mother was the legitimate tenant. The sentencing notes said the document had been altered.
He also submitted two letters on different occasions to the ministry purporting to be from the landlord, stating Raroa was two weeks behind in rent. It was later established the landlord didn’t write the letters.
The sentencing notes also detailed that Raroa submitted a letter to the ministry purporting to be from a landlord for board. Raroa did not board with that person and the person didn’t write the letter.
In total, he received benefits overpaid totalling $40,030.
Raroa has two previous convictions for dishonesty, the last being in 1997.
The Crown submitted the aggravating factors were his “reasonably sophisticated offending” over nearly four years, a high degree of pre-meditation and there was a gross breach of trust.
Raroa’s lawyer, Moana Dorset, asked Judge Hollister-Jones to consider reducing the sentence given her client’s health issues, including having had cardiac bypass surgery.
Dorset tried to get home detention for Raroa but there had already been an adjournment of sentencing as they tried to find a suitable address for him to carry out the sentence.
Neither his emergency housing provider at the time, Apollo Motel, nor his family could help with an electronic-monitoring address.
Judge Hollister-Jones gave a starting point of 21 months and reduced the sentence by 10 per cent for his guilty plea - despite it coming a week before his trial.
He gave a further 5 per cent discount for his health issues given imprisonment would be harder on Raroa.
Judge Hollister-Jones arrived at an end sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment. He imposed release conditions that Raroa attend and complete an appropriate alcohol and drug programme and alcohol treatment and counselling for six months as directed by his probation officer.
Ministry client service support group general manager George van Ooyen said in response to Rotorua Daily Post questions it was important the welfare system remained fair for all New Zealanders and that people did not take advantage of it.
“At MSD, we work hard to protect its integrity.”
He said the ministry focused on early intervention and prevention.
“We seek to have a conversation with clients early on if a concern is raised, making it easy for them to do the right thing and tell us about any change in circumstances that might affect their entitlement to a benefit, so they don’t build up further overpayments.”
If there is long-term, persistent and deliberate fraud, the ministry would prosecute, an approach endorsed by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group report that had seen fraud debt decrease in recent years.
As of June 30, 2023, the total amount of client debt related to fraud the ministry was seeking to recover was $137.1 million.
Van Ooyen said that was “quite small” compared with about $34 billion the Government currently spent each year through the welfare system.
He said fraud debt nationally had also come down from $143.6m a year earlier.
The number of benefit fraud cases responded to by the ministry remained stable over the past few years. However, a greater proportion were now responded to without the need for investigation or prosecution, he said.
Based on the ministry’s latest figures for April 2023, a person on a single person’s job seekers’ benefit is entitled to $337.74 a week plus between $70 and $165 in accommodation supplement depending on where they live.
A couple gets $574.70 ($287.35 each) and between $80 and $235 in accommodation supplement. Couples and singles also have access to a weekly payment for essential costs they can’t afford. The amounts vary on a case-by-case basis.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.