Woman admits false passport offences
A woman has been prosecuted after a Department of Internal Affairs audit found that her photograph appeared in passports in two different names.
When questioned, 47-year-old Josephine Wade said she had applied for and been granted a passport in another name because she had been refused entry into Australia in her own name.
The passport had been used when she went there for work, she said. She had also travelled to Britain.
The woman, whose address is given on the charges as “Australia”, pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court today to charges of making a false or misleading passport application, and using the false passport.
Judge Chris Sygrove said he had considered dealing with the case immediately, but then saw that the maximum penalty under this section of the Passports Act was 10 years’ imprisonment.
Instead, he remanded Wade on bail for a pre-sentence report and sentencing on November 24. A report will be prepared on her suitability for home or community detention.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Glenn Pascoe told the court that Wade had been born in Invercargill in 1968, but an audit of passports showed that her image appeared in a passport in that name and also in a passport for Dana Spencer, who was said to have been born in Christchurch in 1963.
In January 2002, the passport application for Spencer had been made and the document issued. It had then been used for travel to Australia.
Wade admitted witnessing the photograph in the application herself.
Defence counsel April Kelland said Wade did have convictions on her record, but they now dated back a long time.
Category: Focus
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