Identity theft renews grieving for lost baby

The elderly victims of a woman who used the name of their three-week-old dead baby have told a judge it brought back the worst time in their lives.

"It's like opening a coffin again," the couple, now in their 70s, told Wellington District Court judge Bruce Davidson in their victim impact statement.

The couple, who have name suppression, lost their child in 1962.

In 1993, Laurelyn Diane Smith, 46, of Feilding used the name to get the birth certificate then an IRD number, a bank account and to apply for an unemployment benefit.

Yesterday, Judge Davidson said he could do no better than repeat the words the devastated couple had used.

"We have to cope again with the saddest time in our lives."

They had said they wanted her to comprehend the effect it had had on them as elderly people.

To find out that Smith had been living off the proceeds of her offending in their daughter's name was "despicable," they said.

Smith had pleaded guilty to fraud, forgery and using a false New Zealand passport.

Smith came to New Zealand illegally in 1993 with her then-husband and two young sons using a passport carrying the name of a dead British woman.

She later got a benefit using the name of the victims' dead daughter and received $31,408. More than $7500 of that is still outstanding.

Judge Davidson said there was some evidence that Smith was a passive partner in the original offending that brought her to New Zealand.

He said she was remarried and wanted to return to New Zealand in the future.

The judge said if it was not for a removal order already in place for Smith, he would sentence her to home detention.

However, the Immigration Department had said it would remove her regardless of a home detention sentence, making it a hollow sentence, he said.

The Crown has opposed a home detention sentence, saying it would mean she would leave the country effectively without being punished.

Judge Davidson jailed her for two months and seven days. The sentence has effectively already been served as Smith spent time in custody.

She will be removed from New Zealand tomorrow. She was also ordered to pay $7597 in reparation.

Defence lawyer Kevin Smith said her husband would be applying to join her in America and later they hoped to get a special order allowing them to return to New Zealand.

Smith's husband would arrange to pay the reparation, by selling some property.

- © Fairfax NZ News