An aged care worker who was given power of attorney over an elderly resident whittled her savings down to only $9000, a court has heard. Kaylene Stanborough, 52, was on Monday sentenced in the County Court after pleading guilty to two charges, including dishonestly obtaining financial advantage for herself and a co-accused. The court heard Stanborough was employed as an administration assistant at Jacaranda Village in Red Cliffs, near Mildura. An elderly resident, who was 88 and 89 during the offending, had complained to the aged care home’s chief executive that her neighbours were taking advantage of her. In response, the chief executive set up a joint power of attorney between herself and Stanborough to manage the resident’s financial affairs. The inclusion of Stanborough was said to be for the sake of transparency. However, Stanborough in late 2015 began transferring money out of the resident’s account. Over 13 days, into early 2016, $27,1000 was removed, said to benefit a co-accused who Stanborough was in a relationship with at the time. Between March 2016 and February 2017, a further $104,969 was removed from the account, with various withdrawals and transfers. For some of the transactions, Stanborough used blank withdrawal forms with the resident’s signature. Withdrawals took place at the Westpac branches in Red Cliffs and Mildura. Money from these transactions ended up in the accounts of both the co-accused, who had since “disappeared”, and Stanborough. The scheme was only uncovered after the resident died in 2017. A solicitor managing the estate made investigations after only about $9000 was left in the resident’s account. Westpac later repaid the money to the estate. The court heard a psychologist described the co-accused as a “controlling and violent partner”. Stanborough was said to be deeply traumatised, requiring extensive treatment and vulnerable to coercion. Her offending was explained as stemming from fear of her partner. Judge Peter Lauritsen accepted this link, but said Stanborough had abused the trust that was placed in her. “Your activities were disgraceful,” Judge Lauritsen said. Stanborough was sentenced to a community corrections order lasting two years and three months, with conditions that she complete 200 hours of unpaid community work and receive mental health treatment.
