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A Papamoa woman who ripped off more than $37,000 in benefits has been sentenced to 6 1/2 months' imprisonment.
In Tauranga District Court yesterday Judge Peter Rollo deferred the jail term for two months to allow Tracy Lorraine Coker to apply for home detention.
The 33-year-old mother of four pleaded guilty last month to six charges of providing false information about her marital status and one count of misleading a Work and Income officer.
Ministry of Social Development prosecutor Sheryl Manning said the offending had been repetitive and persistent over 26 months from May 2004.
Coker would have drawn more than 100 benefit payments she was not entitled to, totalling just over $37,000.
Ms Manning said the convicted fraudster had four children. One son had medical problems and another had special needs.
For Coker, lawyer Glenn Barnett sought a sentence with "the least restrictive outcome" on humanitarian grounds.
Her partner and father of the children had been in and out of prison and the couple had a troubled relationship, he said.
"She had no confidence in his ability to meet the family's needs."
With six mouths to feed, his client was struggling to make ends meet.
Judge Rollo acknowledged the partner's "on again, off again" support, saying Coker spoke highly of him as a parent but not as a provider.
She had cheated taxpayers of "a sizeable amount of money - more than many people would ever gain in their lifetime by saving".
The judge said he was satisfied there were exceptional circumstances to justify postponing the start of a prison term until the Parole Board ruled on an application for home detention.
He remanded Coker on bail with a nightly curfew and a clause prohibiting use of alcohol and non-prescription drugs.
In another case, 34-year-old sickness beneficiary Raywen Anne Ruth Kiwara was sentenced to 55 hours community work for falsely claiming $1076 over a three-month period.
Ms Manning told the court Kiwara failed to advise the ministry that she had started work.
She continued to receive the sickness benefit because income from the new job "wasn't much money".
- NZPA
