Dunedin woman withdrew $ 100,000 from her mother’s account

As her mother languished in various Dunedin nursing homes, Lorna Christine Hughes bled her savings of more than $ 100,000.

It was only when Gwendoline Hughes died in May last year that her other four children discovered the horrifying truth, Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.

The brothers were confused as to why there was not enough money in the account to pay for the funeral and cremation.

Hughes, 66, knew, but wasn’t saying.

She was repeatedly evasive about lost cash until one of her sisters took the bank statements to the police and 13 years of “protracted and covert crimes” were disposed of.

The defendant had used her mother’s savings, primarily from the sale of her West Coast home in 2004, for all manner of goods and services: groceries, dental appointments, take-out food, car repairs and fuel.

In all, there were 1,268 illegal transactions, Judge Peter Rollo said, and the fraud occurred about every three days.

“The trust I had in my sister Lorna has been lost, it will never be recovered,” said one of the brothers, who read yesterday the collective statements on the impact of the victims in court.

Suspicion about the funds prevented them from properly crying for their mother and a brother said he felt guilty about taking the matter to the police.

“The family will never be the same again due to Lorna’s actions and this is very sad,” wrote another of the siblings.

“I feel like I’ve lost a sister.”

She was also bitter because her sister had assured her that her mother’s health was improving at the time of her death.

As a result, she was not in the country when her mother died.

Hughes’s mother was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 and placed in a nursing home, while Hughes was granted permanent power of attorney.

Less than three months later, the defendant began transferring funds between savings accounts and checking accounts. The fraud started in earnest in 2007.

Over the years, Hughes withdrew more than $ 40,000 in cash from ATMs, but most of it was spent through eftpos transactions.

The list of retailers where the card was used reads like a who’s who of Dunedin businesses.

$ 13,253 was spent on grocery stores, $ 1,715 on fast food and entertainment, and $ 5,320 on his car during the years of dishonesty.

Defense attorney Cate Andersen said her client had recently sold her home in downtown Dunedin and would be able to refund the full amount she had stolen, $ 107,431, once the paperwork was finalized.

A restorative justice conference between some of the family members had been productive, Judge Rollo said.

Hughes tried to explain how the robbery started and how it became such a regular feature of his life.

“I think it’s fair to say that there will be a lot of healing before those relationships [with siblings] it can be resumed, “said the judge.

Hughes had no criminal record and had “changed a lifelong habit of honesty and integrity,” he said.

She was found guilty of robbery in a special relationship and sentenced to six months of house arrest.

Judge Rollo was quick to point out that this was a severe sentence, as anyone who had spent four weeks under the Level 4 lockdown would know.

Hughes was also sentenced to 150 hours of community service and ordered to repay the full amount within seven days.