Winz fraud-mum jailed, dad spared

The children of convicted fraudster parents will not be farmed off to family thanks to a judge keeping their dad out of prison.

The man and his wife defrauded more than $121,000 in benefits from Work and Income while they lived in Manukau.

Jordasch Paul Fenton, 27, was convicted and sentenced to five months' community detention yesterday at the Palmerston North District Court on three fraud charges for which he dishonestly obtained nearly $22,000 while on the domestic purposes benefit.

His wife, Maryann Martin, 26, was imprisoned for 19 months in June after scamming about $12,500 above what she was entitled to from Work and Income every year between 2000 and 2008.

Her mother, who was still in jail when Martin started offending, acknowledged she had passed her lifestyle choice on to her daughter.

Fenton appeared yesterday with the support of his parents, but they were not able to look after the primary school aged children if he went to prison, lawyer Mark Alderdice said.

Fenton had started a UCOL certificate in hospitality and was the sole carer of his two children, he said.

Fenton's offending occurred during an 18-month timeframe starting in mid-2007.

He claimed the domestic purposes benefit while working and living with his wife.

Judge Gregory Ross imposed community detention rather than home detention for the children's sake.

"They themselves would be the prisoners of the sentence as much as you and that would be quite unfair on them.

"A parent needs to go out with their children and meet their needs in a variety of ways away from the home."

For the next five months Fenton would live by a 7pm to 7am curfew as part of his community detention.

- © Fairfax NZ News