An unemployed mother-of-four involved in a widespread benefit scam will now pay back her ill-gotten gains by using her benefit.

The irony of the situation was not lost on Judge Tini Clark as she sentenced Kataraina Fay Matiu on a charge of obtaining nearly $25,000 from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) by deception.

“It’s a bit of a money-go-round, as far as I’m concerned,” she noted dryly, after handing down a sentence of four months’ community detention and 18 months’ intensive supervision for that, and a separate assault on two court security guards.

But she warned Matiu she’d be keeping a close eye on her with judicial monitoring that would provide the judge with reports every three months.

“Thank you, your honour,” Matiu said as she walked out of the dock in the Hamilton District Court on Monday.

“I won’t let you down.”

‘Operation Hawk’

In February 2020, MSD was alerted to a widespread fraud involving an accommodation supplier, a company they would later discover to be fictitious.

It had been listed as supplying rental accommodation between November 2018 and July 2022 for 21 different “clients”.

All up, it had received $45,502.75 in hardship grants, which went into the account of Matiu’s co-accused.

An investigation found that between December 5, 2018, and December 24, 2019, forged and false tenancy documents were created and supplied to ministry clients, who then submitted the fake documents to obtain hardship grants for bond, rent in advance, and rent arrears.

The money was sent to Matiu’s co-accused, and some clients involved in the scam got a share of the funds, while others were deceived, believing they were being offered a genuine tenancy.

“Clients”, including Matiu, then received supplementary benefits, including accommodation and temporary additional support supplements, which were granted based on their falsely declared costs.

Matiu first filled out an application on March 28, 2019, for a tenancy at a Sutton Cres, Hillcrest property using the fake company name as the purported landlord.

In claiming the above-named supplements, she stated her rental costs were $370 per week.

That day, $2220 was paid out to the fake company, and her co-accused transferred some funds to a third party and withdrew the rest as cash.

Up until November 2021, Matiu filled out five temporary additional support forms and other forms, falsely stating her address and costs.

On November 5, she filed an eviction letter, stating she was being evicted from the house that she had never actually lived in.

Matiu’s total fraud was $24,832.85.

However, when interviewed, Matiu continued her ruse, denying that she knew the documentation was false and claiming she had been ripped off by her co-accused.

The assault happened in the Hamilton District Court on October 6 last year after she turned up to support a family member.

As her cousin was involved in a “disorder” incident outside court, Matiu approached one security officer and punched him in the face with a closed fist.

As she was detained, she shin-kicked the second victim.

‘She will accept any sentence given to her’

Matiu’s counsel, Christine Hardy, urged the judge to consider a sentence of community detention as she couldn’t do community work for health reasons.

Her driver’s licence had also been revoked due to her suffering from sleep apnea.

She has four children, the two youngest of whom were in her care, while her mother looked after the two older teenagers.

The 34-year-old was in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing after admitting defrauding MSD of nearly $25,000 over 19 months. Photo / Belinda Feek

Asked by the judge where the father was, and after checking with Matiu, Hardy said the only support “in the community” was her mother.

Judge Clark said Matiu knew what she was doing was wrong, “but did nothing about it”.

“I think there does need to be some punitive element.

“The taxpayers will pay themselves back, so there’s not a lot of penalty here at all.

“She will accept the sentence that is given to her,” Hardy replied, adding that methamphetamine use was an issue for Matiu at the time of her offending.

‘She helped perpetuate a fraud’

Judge Clark described Matiu’s actions as “really significant dishonest offending”.

“Ms Matiu clearly is someone who will strike out if she considers it justified and be violent, and she is someone who helped perpetuate a fraud over a significant amount of time.”

In deciding a starting point, she chose one higher than suggested by both MSD – 12 months – and defence – 10 months.

The judge opted for 18 months.

She then added three months on top of that for the assaults, along with a further month for her previous criminal history of dishonesty and drug offending.

Getting to 22 months’ jail, she then allowed a 25% discount for her guilty pleas, and agreed to step away from a prison term.

In handing down the community detention term, she issued a curfew of 9pm to 6am every day, and banned Matiu from possessing alcohol and drugs.

“If you don’t comply, if you don’t engage, then I will bring you back here, and we’ll think of a different sentence to impose upon you.

“There will be a deduction from your benefit for the money that you owe, which is a little ironic,” she said.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.