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Claire Elizabeth Quirke, 43, was given authority to help with the bank accounts of her ailing father and then after his death in early August 2016.
His father, Robin Milligan, was deputy director with his wife, Shirley Milligan, of the Milligan’s Radio (1972) Ltd. business.
When he died, the sole executor and beneficiary of his estate was his wife.
Quirke, married to Edward James Quirke, 40, was tasked with helping to make certain payments from her late father’s bank accounts of a daily nature.
But she allowed her husband Eddie to take over managing the funds.
In Christchurch District Court, the factual summary shows that on August 1, 2016, Eddie Quirke logged into his father-in-law’s Milligan’s Radio Ltd bank account without authorization and transferred $ 3,000 to his own personal bank account.
That was the same day his father-in-law died.
Three days later, Quirke transferred another $ 3,000 to his bank account.
Between August 12 and September 13, 2016, Edward Quirke accessed his deceased father-in-law’s business bank account 10 more times and withdrew a total of $ 34,000.
The total amount taken from the Milligan’s Radio account by Edward Quirke was $ 40,000.
His son-in-law withdrew another $ 12,600 from Robin Milligan’s personal account.
“Between September 20, 2016 and December 14, 2017, Mr. Quirke accessed another bank account (BNZ) in the name of Robin B Milligan 76 times, withdrawing a total amount of $ 1,340,900,” says the summary of facts.
Shirley Milligan would only find out about the crime two years later, in January 2018.
She reported the matter to the police.
Police investigations found that Eddie Quirke spent more than $ 560,000 on gambling, roughly the same amount on money transfers, more than $ 128,000 on assets, and just over $ 121,000 on ATM withdrawals.
Claire Quirke’s personal bank account also received money transferred from her father’s accounts.
The couple declined to comment to the police.
This afternoon in Christchurch District Court, Eddie Quirke’s defense attorney Anselm Williams said that a significant amount of the stolen money had been used for online gambling.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of theft and four counts of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes.
Judge Gilbert said Eddie Quirke’s pre-sentencing report “was not particularly positive” and did not include much remorse or awareness of the impact his crime has had.
He imprisoned Eddie Quirke for four and a half years and ordered him to pay $ 30,000 in repairs, by selling six vehicles he owns, including an Audi, a Ford Ranger ute and a Jaguar XJ in need of repairs.
Claire Quirke’s defense attorney, Nick Rout, described it as a “tragic” set of circumstances in which he ended up in court facing a charge of theft by someone in a special relationship.
And while Rout said she doesn’t completely blame her husband, it is clear that he was more to blame.
She is open to counseling, Rout said, and her relationship with her mother is “capable of full recovery.”
Judge Gilbert sentenced Claire Quirke to eight months of home detention and also ordered her to pay an additional $ 30,000 reparation.
