A cleaner entrusted to tidy up the home of a vulnerable elderly woman has instead cleaned out her cash, stealing over $12,000 worth of cheques. Kerryn Daniels, 52, also nicked off with another aged care pensioner’s rings, later hocking them at a pawn shop. Daniels pleaded guilty to 11 theft and deception-related charges at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. The court heard Daniels, now of Frankston, had been employed by Bayside Council to clean the homes of elderly residents. In late 2017 she began taking cheques from the home of a Brighton woman, forging her signature and depositing them into a bank account. Days after each theft she would withdraw the money in full. The victim discovered the cheques were missing in April last year, and contacted police and the Westpac bank. When a few days later Daniels tried to deposit a stolen cheque for $1502, it was declined. Police later arrested her and she confessed her crimes. In total she had stolen $12,442 from the woman, who was later reimbursed by the bank. She had also ripped off a Brighton East woman by stealing several of her rings and selling them to a Parkdale pawn shop. The value of the jewellery was not known. In court Daniels’ defence lawyer said her client had severe financial stresses due to no ability to work because of a longstanding hip injury. She said her client was in a violent relationship at the time and that relationship had now ended. Daniels was very remorseful, writing apology letters to the women and the court, the lawyer said. Magistrate Stephen Lee said the thefts were serious offending against elderly and vulnerable victims. But Mr Lee said the large amount of compensation being sought, as well as Daniels’ very obvious shame, were factors to consider in imposing her penalty. “It was a desperate act by you in desperate times in a desperate home environment,” Mr Lee said. “I accept you have deep remorse, regret and embarrassment.” Daniels was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond and must repay $12,422 to Westpac. She must also continue seeing her psychologist for mental health treatment. No conviction was recorded.
April 24, 2019
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service is notifying staff and patients who had direct or indirect contact with a Bundaberg Hospital Family Unit team member who tested positive for pertussis, also known as whooping cough. Overnight, WBHHS began communication and offered antibiotic medication to other staff and just one patient who were identified as being in close contact with the team member between April 12th and 14th.
April 24, 2019
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by UOW Pulse Ltd for the Pulse Uniactive Enterprise Agreement 2018 has been granted by Fair Work Commissioner Wilson in Melbourne on 18 April 2019.
April 24, 2019
A s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) by Leanne Brown naming Adelaide Community Healthcare Alliance Incorporated as her employer has been dismissed by Fair Work Commissioner Hampton sitting in Adelaide on 18 April 2019.
April 24, 2019
The man who killed a Melbourne heart surgeon after an argument over smoking will spend at least 10 years in jail after becoming the first person sentenced under Victoria’s one-punch laws. Joseph Esmaili was sentenced to 10 years and six months’ jail, and the one-punch legislation means he will not be eligible for parole until serving 10 years. The 24-year-old punched Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann in the head at Box Hill Hospital, in Melbourne’s east, in May 2017. The blow knocked the surgeon unconscious and caused him to fall backwards and hit his head on the tiled floor. He died in hospital a month after the attack.
April 24, 2019
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Fullarton Lutheran Homes Inc for t he Fullarton Lutheran Homes Inc Nursing Employees & ANMF (Aged Care) Enterprise Agreement 2018 has been granted by Fair Work Commissioner Bissett in Melbourne on 17 April 2019.
April 24, 2019
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by CV Whalley Drive Aged Care Pty Ltd T/A Cumberland View for the Cumberland View Aged Services Nurses Enterprise Agreement 2018 (Social, community, home care and disability services) has been ratified by Fair Work Commissioner Platt in Adelaide on 17 April 2019.
April 24, 2019
Aged-care double murderer Garry Steven Davis being driven into Newcastle police station after his arrest in 2014. He was found guilty of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder after a trial in Newcastle Supreme Court in 2016. It was a case that gripped the Hunter; an aged-care nurse convicted of murdering two elderly residents and attempting to murder a third by injecting them with large doses of insulin over a weekend in October, 2013. Garry Steven Davis was found guilty of all counts after a four-week judge alone trial, sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in jail and then had his conviction appeal dismissed in the Court of Criminal Appeal. And now lawyers for Davis are preparing to take the case to the High Court of Australia in a final bid to overturn the convictions or have a new trial ordered. It’s believed the grounds of appeal will be similar to what Davis’s lawyers argued in the Court of Criminal Appeal, that Justice Robert Alan Hulme, who found Davis guilty in 2016, used a process of “backwards reasoning”, reversing the onus of proof and leaving Davis as “the last man standing” after other suspects had been eliminated. But the High Court does not just hear any appeal. Those who wish to have a matter heard in the final court of appeal, must first persuade the court in a preliminary hearing that there are special reasons for the appeal to be heard. If approved, the appeal goes before a full court hearing in Canberra. Davis’s lawyers, spearheaded by solicitor Mark Ramsland, have been granted Legal Aid funding to prepare submissions for a High Court of Australia appeal and have engaged the services of barrister Belinda Rigg, SC.
