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A man has been fined $750 for using a fake Massey degree to help him get a job as a netball manager.
Name suppression was today lifted in relation to the former Massey University student who was convicted last month.
Hayden Mark Coulton pleaded guilty in Palmerston North District Court on May 6 to using a document, a fake degree scroll, to gain a pecuniary advantage. He had previously denied the charge.
Coulton subsequently suddenly quit the job.
Police told the court Coulton, 29, obtained a job as regional manager of Western Netball in Palmerston North in April last year after providing as part of his curriculum vitae a copy of what was purported to be a Bachelor of Sports Studies degree from Massey.
But after a news report about his appointment included information about his alleged qualifications, the university began an investigation and found he did not have the qualifications claimed or any degree from Massey. A complaint was lodged with police.
Coulton was fined $750 and ordered to pay $130 costs. His application for permanent name suppression was denied but an interim suppression order was granted to enable him to lodge an appeal against the ruling by the district court judge.
The appeal was dismissed by the High Court today after being abandoned late last week by Coulton and the interim name suppression order lapsed.
The university's deputy vice-chancellor (academic and research), Professor Nigel Long, said Massey would continue to take a firm line against anyone attempting to use fake qualifications or falsely claiming to have qualifications from it.
"Massey University takes very seriously any kind of misrepresentation of its qualifications and fraudulent use of its scrolls," Prof Long said.
"Such actions strike at the integrity of the academic system and the university has no tolerance for any behaviour involving alteration or forgery of a qualification or other official university document with intent to mislead or misrepresent."
He said conferring of degrees and other qualifications was a matter of public record and any prospective employer wishing to obtain verification that a Massey University qualification presented to them was genuine should contact the university.
- NZPA
