Jail looms for ATM fraudsters | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers

David Bancroft | 5th August 2009

An artist's impression of Margareta Dobrica during her first court appearance in Grafton in March.

The Observer

THEY sat fidgeting in the dock, glancing around the courtroom, their eyes and hands never still.

One fiddled with his handcuffs and all wore frowns as they waited for their sentence to be handed down.

But it was a sentence that never came, and the three Romanian nationals who appeared in Grafton Local Court yesterday on a string of fraud and other charges will have to wait another six weeks before they know their fate.

In the meantime they will remain in jail, separated from each other, their family and friends and, in one case, their child.

Margareta Dobrica, 34, was in court to be sentenced on 24 counts of obtaining money by deception, six counts of larceny and one of stealing.

Nicu Lixandru, who spent his 27th birthday in jail on Monday, was to be sentenced on 31 counts of obtaining money by deception, seven of larceny and one of stealing, and Didina Petre, 33, for sentencing on 18 counts of obtaining money by deception and six of larceny.

All offences were for amounts of less than $2000.

In previous court appearances the court was told the three operated a fraud in which one would stand near a person withdrawing money using an EFTPOS or automatic teller machine in order to learn their personalised number.

They would then distract the person, steal their card and withdraw money. Dobrica and Lixandru were caught driving across Grafton Bridge in late March without incident. Petre was arrested later.

They were wanted in four Australian states. The charges stem from offences in Coffs Harbour, Taree, Grafton, Yamba and Port Macquarie.

In court yesterday all three wore dark green tracksuit pants and tops with white joggers. Court proceedings were relayed to them through a translator flown from Sydney.

Defence solicitor Ralph James said he expected the three would get jail terms, but that Petre's should be shorter because she had committed fewer offences.

“If they were in court for one matter alone, no full-time sentence would have been appropriate,” he said.

“It is the totality and the accumulation that will see a full-time sentence as being appropriate.”

He said that in passing sentence, the court should consider how difficult it had been for the trio in their time in custody since being caught.

“Because they are foreign nationals it is relevant that their time in custody will be more difficult than a normal prisoner in that they are not kept with each other and, therefore, lack of English and lack of family and lack of friends will make incarceration harder than normal,” he said.

He said it was the first offence for each of the three.

“In respect of Ms Petre, the absolute tragedy of her circumstance arises out of the political situation in Romania,” he said.

He said their actions had a 'detrimental' effect on their victims and, because of the penalty that had to be paid, 'a tragedy to each defendant, albeit one brought about by themselves'.

Magistrate Kim Pogson said it would not be in the interests of justice to make a quick decision on the sentencing.

He said they would get a jail term when sentenced, so they wouldn't be disadvantaged by being held in custody. Sentence will be passed down on September 22.

Read more...

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