- Tuesday 9 February 2010
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Prison for woman who ripped off grandmother
The woman who ripped off her own grandmother for more than $21,000 will spend Christmas in jail.
Hayley Stewart, 30, was yesterday sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment on a raft of charges, the most serious relating to taking her grandmother’s credit and eftpos cards and using them to get cash – even on the day after her grandfather died.
Stewart let out only a heavy sigh as her sentence was read and she was led from the district court.
Between January and September, Stewart used her 75-year-old grandmother’s cards 190 times to withdraw cash and buy food, alcohol, cigarettes and to gamble.
On one day she spent $4000 on gaming machines at Christchurch Casino.
The money Stewart took from her grandmother cannot be recovered because of Westpac’s policy not to write it off because the PIN number was given out.
The grandmother had given Stewart her PIN number so she could shop and pay bills for her while she was bedridden.
In return for caring for her grandmother, Stewart was given free board.
The bank eventually contacted the grandmother about the irregular spending, and she cancelled the credit card.
She also reported Stewart to police.
The court heard the grandmother had been saving some of the money Stewart spent to pay for rest home care for her husband.
The court heard that as vengeance, Stewart tricked her way into her grandmother’s house and stole her wallet and cash.
In handing down her sentence, Judge Jane Farish said "the time had come" for a custodial sentence for Stewart, who has a history of breaching bail conditions and offending while on bail.
She noted that Stewart had a "serious" drug addiction, and that much of her offending stemmed from that.
Stewart was also being sentenced on charges of assault, burglary, receiving, theft, fraud, drink driving and driving while disqualified dating to 2007.
Stewart’s lawyer said she was remorseful and hoped to make changes in her life, especially after learning the effect her offending had had on her 10-year-old son, who is in social welfare care.
