Napier siege gunman's partner sentenced for fraud

Delwyn Keefe, the partner of Jan Molenaar, at the coroner's inquest into the deaths of Senior Constable Leonard Snee and Jan Molenaar in 2009. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

The former partner of Napier siege gunman Jan Molenaar was today sentenced to 10 months' home detention and 250 hours of community work after admitting benefit fraud amounting to $130,000.

Delwyn Keefe, 45, appeared for sentence before Judge Bridget Macintosh on four charges of using a document with intent to defraud the Department of Work and Income and 12 charges of using a document for pecuniary advantage.

Keefe is on parole after serving nine months of a 27 month jail term imposed in 2009 for selling cannabis while living with Molenaar.

Judge Macintosh said she would not order reparation of the $130,396 because she was satisfied Keefe did not have the means to repay the money.

She said psychiatric and probation reports on Keefe indicated she was in a fragile mental state and noted that her relationship with Molenaar had been an abusive one. He did not contribute financially towards her needs or those of her children and was moody with occasional violent outbursts.

Keefe's lawyer, Letizea Ord, said her client suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her relationship with Molenaar. who was "very controlling".

Although he did not support her financially, he expected financial contributions from her and the benefit was the only way she could do that. Keefe had to raise loans for renovations to the house in Chaucer Road even though she had no legal interest in the property.

"It was within the dynamics of that type of relationship that the offending occurred," Ms Ord said.

Keefe admitted she knew she should have told the department she was living in a relationship with Molenaar and ironically, had she done so, she might have been eligible for a higher level of income through an unemployment benefit.

Judge Macintosh noted that Keefe was repaying a $23,000 debt to the department relating to a period when she was working but still claimed a benefit. It was a pity Keefe had chosen to remain in a relationship that had led to her being jailed for drug offences and facing the benefit fraud charges, she said.

Molenaar took his own life at the end of a three-day siege early in May 2009 after shooting dead one police officer and seriously injured two others and a civilian.

- NZPA