A Rotorua woman has admitted more than $62,000 worth of benefit fraud over 16 years.
Jacquilynne Hiria Mahara aka Turner, 46, homemaker, has appeared in the Rotorua District Court and pleaded guilty to 25 charges of fraudulently using a document to gain a pecuniary advantage, two charges of aiding her partner Norman Deane Manuriki Cole, 59, to commit a similar offence and one charge of obtaining a benefit by deception.
Cole was also due to appear in the Rotorua District Court this week on 25 charges of benefit fraud but the court was told he was in hospital. He has not entered pleas to the charges and has been remanded to appear on November 1.
According to the summary of facts, Mahara applied for and was granted a domestic purposes benefit in October 1988.
When she signed the application she agreed to tell the Ministry of Social Development of any changes in her circumstances, including if she got a job or if she became involved in a marriage-type relationship.