A codeine and alcohol dependent former nursing assistant has pleaded guilty to siphoning more than $40,000 from the bank account of an elderly woman she befriended at a Gold Coast aged care facility. Ann Jennifer Saunders, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in the Southport District Court yesterday. Saunders developed “a significant level of trust” with Angela Ryan, a resident at the aged care facility at which she worked, before she took her bank card and began withdrawing cash from her account, the court heard. Saunders “blatantly and persistently” withdrew money from the 81-year-old woman’s account 48 times between January 2016 and February 2017. Saunders managed to withdraw a total of $40,970 from Ryan’s Bank Of Queensland account at a Southport ATM without permission for her own “direct personal gain”. The fraud wasn’t detected until the victim’s son checked his mother’s bank accounts and noticed the withdrawals. CCTV captured Saunders withdrawing the money on multiple occasions. The court heard Saunders gave a false version of events and tried to shift the blame on to others when questioned by police before she pleaded guilty yesterday. Saunders had been working at the aged care facility since 2014 but she lost her job as a result of the fraud charge and has since applied for a disability support pension. During sentencing Saunders wept quietly in the dock. Judge David Kent QC took into account trauma experienced by Saunders during her childhood, her lack of a criminal history and various physical and psychological issues in sentencing. “You have an unspecified trauma-related disorder, alcohol dependency and opioid prescription medication dependency — your problems are multiple at best,” Judge Kent said. But he said a “very significant part” of Saunders’ defence was that she was able to fully compensate the elderly woman. Judge Kent sentenced Saunders to two and a half year in prison wholly suspended after three months. The maximum penalty for the offence was 12 years in prison. Saunders was ordered to pay back the $40,970 within a month.
June 18, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Adria Village Ltd for the Adria Village Ltd Enterprise Agreement 2017-2020 has been granted by Commissioner Johns sitting in Sydney on 13 June 2018.
June 18, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by the Adelaide Unicare Pty Ltd as trustee for the Unihealth Research & Development Trust T/A Minlaton Medical Centre for the Minlaton Medical Centre Nursing Employees & ANMF Enterprise Agreement 2018 has been granted by Commissioner Lee in Melbourne on 13 June 2018.
June 18, 2018
An application by Victorian Hospitals’ Industrial Association (s.240 – Application to deal with a bargaining dispute) will be hard by Fair Work Commissioner Cribb in Conference Room E & F – Level 6 in Melbourne.
June 18, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application from Seventh-day Adventist Aged Care (Victoria) Ltd T/A AdventCare for its Seventh -Day Adventist Aged Care (Victoria) Pty Ltd and (Trading as AdventCare), ANMF and HSU Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been approved by Fair Work Commissioner Harper-Greenwell in Melbourne on 14 June 2018.
June 18, 2018
A Hobart man who stole $280,000 from his sick and widowed mother aged in her 90s, leaving her unable to pay her nursing homes fees, has been sentenced to almost three years’ jail. Ronald Peter Walker, 71, was given the power of attorney over the estate of his mother, Rena Walker, in June 2009 after she was assessed as having dementia and no longer capable of looking after herself. The Hobart Supreme Court heard that in the week between Walker being given power over his mother’s affairs and when she moved into the nursing home, he illegally transferred about $105,000 into accounts belonging to him and his two children. Over the next two years the illegal transfers continued with Walker taking another $177,000, including the proceeds from the sale of his mother’s home. Justice Michael Brett said Walker had a duty to deal with his mother’s assets with the utmost good faith and to apply it in her interest, not his. The court heard at the time the power of attorney was granted, Mrs Walker had a bank account containing almost $140,000. The shortfall between her pension and the nursing home fees was about $850 a month, which was paid for by direct debits from her account. About two months after Mrs Walker moved into the nursing home, her house in Berriedale was sold and the net proceeds of about $190,000 were paid into a different bank account opened by Walker in his mother’s name. Walker’s crimes only came to light after Mrs Walker was moved into a nursing home and there was not enough money in her account to pay her fees.
June 18, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by the Latvian Friendly Society Ltd T/A Latvian Friendly Society for the Latvian Friendly Society Ltd Nurses Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been waved through by Fair Work Commissioner Johns in Sydney on 15 June 2018.
June 18, 2018
The Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union and St Vincent De Paul Society are in a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) contretemps before Commissioner Harper-Greenwell in his Melbourne chambers.
