A woman who duped a buy now, pay later giant of more than $36,000 worth of goods in hundreds of fraudulent payments said she did it to help deal with her stress, a court has been told.
Hailey Veronicaxjmtzyw Shannon Room used multiple websites to rack up goods she had no need for and organised for them to be delivered to her house.
Upon her arrest, police discovered she had pawned some of the items at Cash Converters.
Proceedings on Tuesday morning were briefly delayed as Room, 38, complained something smelled and said her feet were cold while seated in the dock.
After being jailed, Room cried as she was led away to the cells to begin her sentence.
Last year she pleaded guilty to one count each of fraud and attempted fraud by dishonestly causing a detriment of $30,000 or more.
Crown prosecutor Stipe Drinovac said Room used several websites to obtain the usernames and passwords of at least 132 Afterpay accounts between 2017 and 2019.
Brisbane District Court was told Afterpay was told she used the details to make hundreds of transactions, buying items like groceries, fast food, electronics, plants, jewellery, bicycles and a gun safe.
Mr Drinovac said 85 orders worth more than $36,521.74 were delivered to her house.
On 102 other occasions, she attempted to order more items, but they were either cancelled or put on hold.
Those purchases were valued at about $58,297.55.
Police found multiple empty packages addressed to false names when they attended her address on June 25, 2019.
They discovered some of the items had been traded in at a local Cash Converters store.
“You told police you kept doing it to help with stress you were experiencing,” Judge Michael Williamson noted.
Cecelia Bernardin, Room’s defence barrister, asked for her client to be released on parole upon sentencing due to her poor physical and mental health.
The court was told Room suffered from depression and anxiety and had been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I should note these court proceedings have caused her (Room) immense stress … she was also severely stressed at the arraignment,” she said.
McLean Roche’s Grant Halverson says the FinTech model is “growth at all costs” and “racking up enormous bad debts”.
Ms Bernardin said her client had told police she hoped she would be caught because she “couldn’t stop the offending”.
She said Room began using methamphetamines regularly in 2009 but reduced her drug use about a year ago.
Room, who has never held paid employment, left school in year 7 to take care of her mother after an accident.
She completed year 10 via TAFE and was looking after her son, 10, who has special needs.
The court was told Room’s time in custody would be difficult, as she suffered from obesity, emphysema and asthma.
But Judge Williamson said she needed to serve time behind bars due to the seriousness of her offending.
He said Room was on probation for similar offending at the time she began duping Afterpay.
Room was sentenced to three years’ jail with parole eligibility in October.
