Maria Carmela Pau was sentenced for posing as a doctor to issue fake Covid exemption certificates. Photo / news.com.au
Maria Carmela Pau was sentenced for posing as a doctor to issue fake Covid exemption certificates. Photo / news.com.au
A life coach who pretended to be a medical doctor while issuing hundreds of bogus Covid exemption certificates, raking in more than A$90,000 in the process, has avoided a conviction.
Maria Carmela Pau, also known as Maria Power, was instead fined A$25,000 after a lengthy sentencing hearing at Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The Gold Coast woman did not speak or respond to questions from waiting media as she left court in the company of her lawyers.
Pau, 45, was initially facing five charges of taking a title indicating a person is a health practitioner.
Pau charged $75 per client for the fake exemptions. Photo / NCA NewsWire
However, she pleaded guilty to only one charge – encompassing a wider date range than the initial charges – after prosecutors offered no evidence on the initial five offences.
She is the first person in Queensland to be charged with the offences under Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of A$60,000 or three years' jail.
Prosecutor Donn Reid said Pau was arrested by police at her Gold Coast unit on October 13, 2021, after officers received information she had been issuing medical exemption certificates.
Pau does not hold a medical doctorate and is not registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the court was told.
Phones, laptops and diary log entries – which she said were used to manage her appointments – were discovered at her unit.
Reid said an analysis of the electronic data revealed Pau had issued 1200 of the fake exemption certificates on various dates between July and October 2021.
One was issued the day police executed the search warrant.
Pau raked in more than A$90,000 issuing the bogus Covid exemption certificates. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Reid said the certificates claimed a person had a medical condition that caused a "major adverse reaction" to wearing a mask or getting a Covid-19 vaccine or PCR test.
He said Pau charged A$75 per client for the fake exemptions.
Financial records for her charity, Coaching With Substance, showed credits of more than A$90,000 had been deposited in the account for issuing the exemption certificates between September and October.
"It appears the defendant has been using several accounts to receive payments for exemptions as well as transferring funds between business and personal accounts," Reid said.
He submitted Pau had shown no remorse.
Reid tendered a new referral message where Pau said she believed government-imposed mandates were "illegal" and urged people to stand against "tyranny".
The court was told Pau had a doctorate in professional studies and a master of public health, and she believed she was qualified to issue the fake exemptions.
Defence barrister Greg McGuire said she was motivated by a desire to help people.
"Many people for whatever reason … were very concerned they were forced to have injections they believed were not safe enough and would not prevent infection and transmission of [Covid-19]," he said.
"She was not Sally Smith office worker with no qualifications … she had video consultation [with clients] and recorded all of them."
Pau, who struggled with drug addiction through her teen years, had been subject to intense media scrutiny since the charges were laid.
McGuire said the publicity had "destroyed" her coaching and consulting business.
