STATE OF TASMANIA v ALEISHA ELIZABETH DIREEN 1 AUGUST 2022
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Aleisha Elizabeth Direen, you have pleaded guilty to 36 charges of computer related fraud.
Between July 2019 and April 2021 you were employed as a bookkeeper at the Kingston Beach RSL Club. On 26 occasions during your last five months in that position – between 6 November 2020 and 30 March 2021 – you used a computer to dishonestly transfer money from the club’s bank account into bank accounts of your own. The total amount that you misappropriated was $29,877.43. You entered false information in the club’s computerised accounting records to conceal your crimes. However, you did not do a really thorough job of concealing your crimes.
Your activities came to light in May 2021 when a new bookkeeper discovered that the accounting records were not up to date, that some bank reconciliations had not been done, and that payments had been made that did not match the invoices provided by creditors. A police investigation revealed that the transfers had been made into three different bank accounts of yours.
You were 35 years old when you committed these crimes. You are now 37. You have some significant prior convictions. You have had drug problems since your teenage years. It appears that those drug problems are associated with various misfortunes in your life that have included a sexual assault, family violence and some accidents. As a result of the problems that you had, you have been using drugs since your teenage years. A lot of your prior convictions appear to be drug related. When you were 20 you were given a six months’ suspended sentence and placed on probation on charges of aggravated burglary and stealing. It appears the value of the property stolen was about $15,000. In 2007 in Queensland, you were fined for receiving stolen property. In 2008 you were sentenced to four months’ imprisonment for being an accessory after the fact to a robbery. In 2015 a magistrate fined you $300 on charges of stealing and unlawful possession of property. In 2017 a magistrate sentenced you to three months’ imprisonment, of which two months were suspended, on three charges of driving whilst disqualified and two charges of driving with a prescribed illicit drug present in your blood. In June and July 2020 you drove with methamphetamine in your blood. On the occasion in July 2020 you rolled your car, hit your head, and suffered a fractured vertebra. You were charged in relation to both acts of driving, that is the June and July 2020 acts of driving. You were on bail on those charges throughout the period that I am concerned with. Last year, in October 2021, a magistrate sentenced you on those charges to four months’ imprisonment, of which two months was suspended, and you have served the other two months.
Despite all of that you had a good work record until the period of offending that I am concerned with. You have found other employment. You are working from home now, and working full time. That employment would appear to be at risk. You have a stable relationship with your partner. You have a 13 year old son by an earlier relationship. I am told that you have been drug free since being charged. You pleaded guilty at practically the earliest possible stage. You are sorry for what you did. You acknowledged that the people you were working for were good people. Your counsel has told me that you have tried to get money to pay back what you have stolen, but that you were not able to do so. I will be making an order for you to pay the money. If you keep your job, there looks like there will be some prospect of you repaying a substantial amount, possibly all of it.
In all the circumstances I think that this is an appropriate case for home detention. You have been assessed as suitable for home detention, I would have sent you to prison if you had not been, but I am going to make a home detention order.
You are under the supervision of a probation officer at the moment as a result of the sentence imposed last October, but the author of the home detention assessment report has said that it is not appropriate for me to make a further community correction order. You are also assessed as unsuitable for a community service order because of your state of physical health. The only orders I will be making will be the home detention order and the order for payment of compensation.
I convict you on all the charges, and I make a home detention order for an operative period of nine months from today. That order will include conditions which will apply for the whole of the operative period.
- You must not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment.
- You must reside at [address withheld].
- You must be there at all times except when you are not there for a relevant reason as specified in s 42AD(4) of the Sentencing Act That includes going somewhere with your probation officer’s permission.
- You must permit a police officer, probation officer or prescribed officer to enter those premises.
- You must permit a police officer to conduct a search of the premises, conduct a frisk search of you, and take a sample of any substance found on the premises or on your person.
- You must submit to electronic monitoring, which may include wearing or carrying an electronic device.
- You must not remove, tamper with, damage, disable or interfere with the proper functioning of any electronic device or equipment used for the purpose of electronic monitoring.
- You must not allow anyone else to remove, tamper with, damage, disable or interfere with the proper functioning of any electronic device or equipment used for the purpose of electronic monitoring.
- You must comply with all reasonable and lawful directions given to you in relation to the electronic monitoring, including directions of the installation, attachment or operation of a device or a system used for the purpose of electronic monitoring, if those directions are given to you by a police officer, probation officer a prescribed officer or any other person whose function involves installation or operation of a device or system used for the purposes of electronic monitoring.
- You must maintain in operating condition an active mobile phone service, provide the contact details to Community Corrections, and be accessible for contact through that device at all times.
- You must attend the Community Corrections Office at Highfield House for induction into this order tomorrow no later than 10am.
- You must submit to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer as required by that officer.
- You must not take an illicit or prohibited substances.
- You must not take any medication containing an opiate, benzodiazepine, bupropion hydrochloride or pseudoephedrine unless you provide written evidence that you have been prescribed that medication.
- You must not consume any alcohol. You must submit to a breath test, a urine test, or other test for the presence of alcohol if directed to do so by a police officer or a Community Corrections officer.
- You must submit to testing for illicit drugs if directed to do so by a police officer or Community Corrections officer.
I order that within 28 days you pay the sum of $29,877.43 to Kingston Beach RSL Club Inc as compensation for its loss. I cannot allow you longer than that. You will need to deal with the Monetary Penalties Enforcement Unit about further time to pay.