Woman illegally obtained $500,000 after campground meeting

A woman has pleaded guilty to obtaining more than $500,000 by false pretences from a man she met in a Tokoroa campground.

Emma Heke, 45, also known as Emma Whaiapu, initially asked to borrow $700 to help prepare a case she was taking against the Crown, Wellington District Court was told.

But during the next two years the Wellington beneficiary called her victim repeatedly, saying she needed more.

She promised to pay all the money back with 20 per cent interest after an inheritance was settled. Later she told her victim there would be no inheritance.

She also told him that if he wanted his money back he would have to wait for the outcome of her legal action against the Government.

She insisted that unless he gave her more money the case would be lost and he would lose all his investment.

When his money ran out, the victim borrowed money from friends and family to lend Heke.

Heke's lawyer, Robert Lithgow, said the Crown was responsible for a lot of hurt and pain suffered by her.

She had just been paid a large sum in settlement of a claim against the Crown but it had been like "extracting teeth".

The bulk of the settlement would be paid to her victim and effectively she would get nothing.

Judge Denys Barry remanded Heke for sentencing on July 22.

- NZPA