Filipino conwoman who stole from daughter ejected from Australia
- From: News Limited Network
- October 15, 2013
Justice has caught up with 60-year-old gambling addict Aida Carranceja.Source: Supplied
A FILIPINO conwoman was allowed to live in Australia for 25 years despite stealing more than $1 million and breaking the law 130 times before her visa was finally cancelled.
The final straw for the 60-year-old gambling addict came after she stole $16,000 from her own daughter, who she was supposed to be caring for after undergoing surgery for a serious accident.
The Immigration Minister lost a court battle to have Aida Carranceja, from western Sydney's Fairfield, deported two years ago, but the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has now ruled she should be given no more chances.
Carranceja again took her fight to stay in Australia to court after the Immigration Minister cancelled her visa for a second time.
This time, the court found all evidence pointed to a "strong likelihood" of reoffending and that the community needed to be protected from her continued deceptions.
According to court documents, Carranceja moved to Australia in 1985 and was awarded a permanent visa in 1988, despite committing her first stealing offence three months after arriving.
Since then she has racked up an extensive criminal history of more than 130 convictions and several lengthy jail terms.
In her worst crimes, she befriended a string of people and used elaborate lies, like fake bank statements, to trick them into parting with more than $1 million, none of which was ever recovered.
Her victims included a student and her husband, from whom she stole $250,000 in the mid 1990s.
After serving jail for that crime, she befriended a couple, a real estate agent, a friend-of-a-friend and a woman she met in a park and tricked them into handing over a combined $768,200 from 2002 to 2007, court documents show.
Her crimes continued despite formal warnings from the Immigration Minister in 2002 and 2010 that the Government was considering cancelling her visa.
When the action was finally taken, Carranceja successfully overturned it.
But earlier this year, and after being released from her most recent stint in jail, she stole $17,000 in cash and jewellery from her own daughter and son-in-law while living in their home and caring for her recovering daughter.
In arguing to stay in Australia, Carranceja said she now had a handle on her gambling addiction and was receiving treatment for depression.
Each of her children, including the daughter she stole from, also argued against her deportation.
But the court said the risk was too great, with senior tribunal member Jill Toohey pointing to years of claims that she was seeking help, all of which preceded further crimes.
"Her offences have consistently involved defrauding innocent people of large sums of money, none of which has been recovered and none of which she has attempted to repay," the decision said.
"Everything points to the strong likelihood that she will reoffend and cause similar serious harm to others in the future."
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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/filipino-conwoman-who-stole-from-daughter-ejected-from-australia/story-fni0xqrb-1226740566660
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