Grandmother jailed after $753 spending spree using stolen bank cards

Whanganui grandmother Angelique Corby, who has an extensive history of ignoring court-imposed sentences and orders, was jailed for four months after she went on a spending spree using bank cards. Photo / Ocskaymark

Angelique Corby wasted no time using someone else’s bank cards on a spending spree to buy tobacco, cell phone top-ups, food, drinks, and gift cards.

The Whanganui grandmother chalked up more than $750 in purchases using the cards stolen by someone else in an aggravated robbery only hours earlier.

On Monday Corby appeared before Judge Jonathan Krebs in the District Court facing dishonesty and theft charges, and breaching an alcohol interlock order.

Corby, who admitted the charges, was directed by the court to have the breath-testing device installed in 2019 for a minimum of 12 months, following repeated drink-driving convictions, but ignored the order.

She had a significant history of thumbing her nose at sentences and orders imposed by the judicial system, which made the sentencing process difficult, Judge Krebs said.

“No matter what the court imposes, you don’t comply with it.”

Corby spent $753.89 using the stolen bank cards, drove off without paying for $50 of petrol in October last year, and was again caught driving in violation of the alcohol interlock order in November.

While there had been difficulty finding an address where Corby could serve an electronically monitored sentence of home detention, the judge ruled it was important sentencing went ahead.

Defence lawyer Blair Piper said a suitable address had been available until another person was released on bail to live there.

Piper was also keen to resolve the case noting the dishonesty charges had been active since July.

Despite Corby’s lengthy history of failing to comply with court orders, Piper sought a sentence of intensive supervision and community work, noting she had spent a month behind bars on remand.

“Her breach history wouldn’t ordinarily support that.”

He submitted Corby’s repeated neglect to obey court sentences was due to the instability of her living arrangements as she, her three children, and her grandchildren had struggled to find accommodation for two years.

Corby was willing to pay reparation Piper said, but he didn’t know if she was in a financial position to do so.

As Piper argued Corby’s fraud offending was at the lower end of the scale Judge Krebs cut in saying she was found in possession of the cards within two hours of the aggravated robbery.

“There’s no suggestion that she was part of it [the robbery] but in some way she was connected with those who committed it,” the judge said.

Judge Krebs expressed empathy after reading a letter submitted by Corby detailing family trauma she suffered which had a significant impact on her life, but he explained it wasn’t a mitigating factor as it happened after she committed the crimes.

The judge began with a start point of six months imprisonment, on the dishonesty charge, and added a month for her previous convictions before giving a 30 per cent deduction which resulted in an end sentence of four months in jail.

One month’s imprisonment was imposed on the theft charge, to be served concurrently, and Corby was disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay a total of $803.90 in reparation.

Judge Krebs granted Corby leave to apply for home detention and warned her to serve the alcohol interlock sentence as it wasn’t going away.