Dunedin woman Julie Elisabeth Morton, 60, was sentenced to three years, two months' imprisonment in the Dunedin District Court on Friday. Photo: ODT / Felicity Dear
A man who missed out on a full inheritance after his sister stole almost $1 million from their mother says it is "a slap in the face" she was not ordered to repay it.
Dunedin woman Julie Elisabeth Morton, 60, was sentenced to three years and two months' imprisonment in the Dunedin District Court on Friday.
She earlier admitted six charges of theft in a special relationship which represented hundreds of unlawful transactions over multiple years.
Morton had enduring power of attorney over her mother's assets after she lost capacity to manage them in 2015.
Between 5 January, 2015 and 28 March, 2018 the defendant stole $965,310 of her mother's money.
She used the money for jewellery, clothing, landscaping and spent $12,222 on Amazon purchases.
The defendant's brother John Morton did not receive his full inheritance as a result of the crimes and felt betrayed and devastated.
While Morton's children contributed some money to help cover the stolen funds, she was not ordered to pay reparation for her crimes.
"I find the lack of reparation a slap in the face," John Morton said.
He said he felt vindicated by the sentence, but was "deeply concerned" the term of imprisonment and no requirement for the defendant to pay reparation would not deter others contemplating similar offending.
"It is equivalent to her earning $300,000 per year while she is in jail," he said.
When Morton was spoken to by police she said she was given enduring power of attorney after her father died and her mother's health was declining but offered no explanation for the money being transferred from her mother's account.
Yesterday, the court heard Morton showed limited insight into her offending.
She said she felt "a terrible sense of guilt and shame" but still could not offer an explanation for her deceit.
Morton described her desire to steal as a "compulsion" that left her feeling better afterwards.
She had another fraudulent conviction from 1997.
She was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment after stealing $220,000 from the real estate company she worked for.
At the time, the defendant said she did it because "it was an organisation making plenty of money for doing little work".
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said there was a "situational linkage" between the two crimes as they both occurred around the time of deaths in the family.
John Morton said that was "a load of rubbish".
"It was simply an opportunity as was her first offence," he said.
Judge David Robinson said the gap between the two crimes proved Morton could sustain an offence-free life.
He said the victim was "inherently vulnerable" and had placed trust in the defendant to manage her finances.
"You immediately helped yourself to her assets," he said. "Your brother received significantly less inheritance than he was entitled to."
John Morton said he was devastated by the crime and was not convinced his sister would change.
"If the opportunity arises, I believe that she will do this again," he said.
- Otago Daily Times