Landlord tells of threats over false quake claim convictions
Landord Sally Mengtung Ye says she has been publicly vilified and received threats because of the publicity surrounding her high profile fraud trial over false quake damage claims.
Ye, also known as Baylis, 50, says she was threatened after her photograph appeared in The Press during the trial which ended with her conviction on 34 charges of dishonestly using documents to make claims totalling nearly $27,000.
Judge John Macdonald today sentenced her to eight months’ home detention where she will look after her sick mother who speaks no English. She will also have to do give something back to the community with 300 hours of community work.
EQC paid out $12,895 on the claims she put in for quake damage at properties owned by her, her partner, and her mother. She paid $2100 of that back on the day of the sentencing, and agreed to continue payments at $100 a week.
Judge Macdonald said she had exploited the situation and “took advantage of the circumstances EQC must have found itself in soon after the earthquakes.”
“You knew public pressure to process the claims quickly. It seems to me you apprehended that perhaps best scrutiny might not have been given to each and every claim,” he said.
Crown prosecutor Marcus Elliott said the effort Ye put into creating the false invoices confirmed that the offending was premeditated. It had occurred at a time when EQC was facing over 300,000 claims.
Defence counsel Paul Johnson said the payment of $2100 reparations “shows a level of compliance” and her risk of reoffending was seen as low. He urged a home detention sentence.
He told the court of her being threatened after earlier coverage of the case, and opposed an application for any further photographs to be taken in court.
Ye denied the charges of dishonestly using documents which were false invoices, many with her notations about payments made. She acknowledged that one had been signed off in the name of her cat. After the trial, she still maintains her innocence.
But Judge Macdonald found the evidence against her overwhelming.
He found there had been a significant level of deception in the offending. He noted 14 convictions in 1998 for theft as a servant, for which periodic detention had been imposed. Because of the gap between the offending he did not increase the latest sentence.
“Your case has attracted quite some publicity but that may have been partly your own doing,” said the judge. Because of all the publicity, it was doubtful that she would do anything like this again.
He also noted that her latest letters sent to the court put forward some conspiracy theories of her own.
Category: Focus
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