Woman jailed over $50k child support fraud
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The woman pleaded guilty to three counts of fraudulently obtaining financial payments from Centrelink. (ABC Graphics)
A Darwin woman has been jailed for claiming more than $50,000 in child support for five children removed from her care by the government.
The 31-year-old woman pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court this morning to three counts of fraudulently obtaining financial payments from Centrelink.
The court heard the woman's five young children were taken into foster care in 2007 for two years, due to the violent relationship between the woman and her partner.
But the woman applied for parent support benefits, telling Centrelink that she had full-time care of five children.
The court heard the woman used more than $51,000 to pay rent on a large Darwin home and gambled away up to $250 per week on poker machines.
Justice Dean Mildren sentenced her to two years' jail, suspended after she serves three months.
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