Identity thief avoids jail for passport fraud

A Rotorua man who stole the identity of a dead baby to obtain a false passport has escaped jail, despite the distress caused to the family of the child.

Christopher Mark Grose, 36, was sentenced to 300 hours' community service at Rotorua District Court yesterday after giving a $10,000 cheque to the Child Cancer Foundation as reparation for the crime.

Sentencing had been postponed from last week to see whether Grose could pay the money, at the request of the baby's family.

The court heard that the foundation had received the cheque but had not yet issued a receipt because it had not been cleared.

Grose, a labourer, had earlier pleaded guilty to forgery and possessing a false New Zealand passport. Dressed in a pinstriped suit, he looked strained as Judge James Weir delivered the sentence, saying Grose's offending was at the lower end of the scale.

The judge accepted that Grose had paid the reparation and obtained a false passport because he wanted to visit his girlfriend in Britain.

The court heard that in 1997 Grose used the identity of a baby born about the same time as him to get the passport.

It has been previously reported that the baby, whose identity is suppressed to protect the family, was born and died on the same day.

Grose used the false passport several times to visit his girlfriend. He had overstayed a British visa on his own passport and wanted to get back to the country to maintain his relationship with the woman.

The Crown had sought a prison sentence of between eight and 18 months, saying the crime was premeditated - not only had Grose used the baby's name for the passport, he had also set up a bank account and tax number.

The judge said the use of the name had caused "significant distress" to the baby's surviving relatives.

In a victim impact statement, the baby's mother said Grose had reopened a wound from a time that was "private and precious" for the family.

Sentencing had been adjourned to allow the family to confront Grose. Although they were not in court yesterday, they had made it clear they wanted reparation and for the money to be paid to the Child Cancer Foundation.

The judge came to the figure of $10,000 after finding that Grose did not offend for financial gain or with the intention of committing other crimes, as is the case in many other incidents of passport fraud.

A probation report had showed his "deep remorse" and subsequent work for volunteer organisations, and he did not have any previous relevant convictions, the judge said.

Grose refused to comment after the sentencing. His lawyer, Bill Lawson, said a sentence of community work and reparation was fair in the circumstances.

Crown solicitor Fletcher Pilditch said the Crown had sought a prison sentence to maintain the integrity of the passport system, but that it also accepted the crime was at the lower end of the scale.

The Passport Act was amended in 2002 to increase the maximum penalty for possessing a false passport from two years to 10 years. The reasons for the increase have been identified as the need to prevent terrorism and a general toughening of sentences.

The so-called "tombstone" method that Grose used to obtain a false passport was no longer possible, said the Department of Internal Affairs.

A department spokesman said that since 2003 all new passport applications had been checked against birth and death records.