"For the life of me, I can't understand how a person going through that would contemplate offending again," Judge Kevin Phillips said. In contrast, counsel Andrew Dawson said, the most recent benefit fraud of $61,119 was not driven by greed. Judge Phillips was not convinced. "I think you thought you put together a scam that was going to enable you to continue defrauding the benefit system for years to come," the judge said. "You bring the whole system into total disrepute, a system based on trust and honesty," Judge Phillips said.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 18, 2019 14:37 UTC