501 appeal: Woman to be deported after forging medical letters claiming her partner had cancer

Kelly Ruth Edmonds forged medical letters claiming her partner had terminal brain cancer in an effort to have her released from prison.

A Kiwi-born woman has been booted out of Australia after she forged medical letters to a court claiming her locked-up partner had various cancers, including inoperable brain cancer, and needed to begin treatment immediately.

The fake letters written by Kelly Ruth Edmonds were successful as her then-partner, who was in jail on firearms charges, was granted bail in 2017.

But it was not for another two years, when the then-partner’s trial was due to start, that Edmonds’ forgery was discovered.

In early 2019, the partner’s lawyer successfully filed to have her trial vacated. Included in the application to the New South Wales court were the fake medical letters, which stated his client had three to six months to live and needed treatment to alleviate her symptoms.

Later that year, the lawyer applied to have the trial proceedings permanently stayed. This led Australian police to make inquiries into the medical letters.

The doctor purported to have provided the documents confirmed to police that she had not written them.

In November 2019, Edmonds admitted to police that she was behind the letters.

“Well, I forged them. I did them,” she said.

She admitted finding the doctor’s name and letterhead online, signing the fake documents and faxing them to her then-partner’s lawyer.

Edmonds was jailed for four years and six months on two counts of perverting the course of justice.

The case and the summary of her offending were documented in a decision released last week by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia.

Edmonds, now 43, has lived in Australia since she was 16. She learned in 2021 that her visa had been cancelled under section 501 of the Australian Migration Act and she was to be returned to New Zealand.

Her plea to have that decision revoked was declined and she then applied to the tribunal.

The tribunal affirmed the decision but the Federal Court of Australia remitted it for reconsideration, resulting in the tribunal’s second and latest decision.

It stated that Edmonds had convictions in New Zealand for drink-driving, shoplifting and burglary but her criminal history in Australia was far more extensive, with 33 convictions racked up over 20 years, including violence, shoplifting, driving offences and fraud-related offences.

Kelly Ruth Edmonds appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia against her deportation. Photo / 123rf

The fraud cases led to her conviction on multiple counts of obtaining financial advantage, which included dishonestly collecting about $40,000 in social security payments by misrepresenting her circumstances.

As well as being jailed for forging the medical documents, she was jailed for a scam that involved stealing from people selling products on social media.

The tribunal’s decision said her ’ predisposition towards “fraudulent and otherwise misleading and deceptive conduct in Australia seems to have had its progenitor in New Zealand”.

It said that, in early 2011, Edmonds and her then-partner were in New Zealand for a funeral and, while visiting, they committed two burglaries and one shoplifting offence.

But before they could be charged, they returned to Australia.

An arrest warrant was issued and, when they returned to New Zealand in 2015, they were charged.

They pleaded guilty and, at their sentencing, Edmonds told her lawyer that her then-partner was unwell and needed to return to Australia for radiation therapy. She said she was the woman’s fulltime caregiver.

In her appeal to remain in Australia, Edmonds admitted her then-partner did not have cancer and that her conduct had caused the woman’s lawyer to lie inadvertently to the court.

She said she was no longer in a relationship with the woman, with whom she shared three children.

Edmonds was granted parole in May 2022 and has since been held in an immigration detention centre.

The other woman is serving a prison sentence and will not be released until 2028.

After considering all submissions, the tribunal affirmed the decision not to revoke the mandatory cancellation of Edmonds’ visa, meaning she would be deported.

It found that, while Edmonds had strong ties to Australia through immediate family members who lived there, this was outweighed by the protection and expectations of the Australian community.

The tribunal also noted a “consistency to the untruthfulness” of her evidence.

“[Edmonds] is not a witness of truth. She is a person who manufactures past facts and circumstances to best suit her in achieving a favourable outcome from whatever process or examination she may currently be the subject of or otherwise be subjected to.”

Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.