Two Northlanders have been sentenced to home detention for welfare fraud totalling more than $150,000.
The offenders, a 33-year-old woman from Kerikeri and a 34-year-old man from rural Kaikohe, will have to return the money - but at a rate of $10 a week it would take almost 200 years for their debts to be fully repaid. The two cases are unrelated but both appeared for sentencing in the Kaikohe District Court last Friday.
According to the Ministry of Social Development, Joseph Abraham Kopa applied for and was granted a domestic purposes benefit and an accommodation supplement in November 2004. But he failed to say he was living with his partner and claimed he was single on six subsequent occasions.
When his benefit was stopped in April 2011 he had been overpaid to the tune of $98,219. He entered guilty pleas to one charge of obtaining by deception and seven of dishonestly using a document. Both charges carry a maximum penalty of seven years' jail.
Amy Jean Pearson was granted a domestic purposes benefit, accommodation supplement and temporary additional support in December 2007. At the time she was on her own but she failed to tell the Ministry that she was entered into a marriage-like relationship in September 2009. Twelve times after that she said she had no partner so her benefits continued until May 2012, resulting in an overpayment of $52,503. She pleaded guilty to one charge of obtaining by deception and 12 of dishonestly using a document.