Barossa Valley man Scott Tolhurst pleads guilty to $900k wine scam to fuel gambling addiction

A once successful Barossa Valley winemaker has begged to escape jail after telling a court he was a sick man when he swindled close to $1m to fuel his gambling addiction.

A former Barossa Valley winemaker has begged for no jail after telling a court he was a sick man when he defrauded a company of close to $1m.

Scott Gregory Tolhurst, 54, of Light Pass, nervously awaits his fate for swindling money from customers for wine he was never able to supply.

During sentencing submissions the District Court heard Tolhurst deceived Vintage Clusters of $900,000 between August and September 2018 to fuel his gambling addiction.

A prosecutor pushed for immediate jail, saying it would have become apparent to Tolhurst that he wouldn’t be able to fulfil his contract obligations but still requested two further payments.

Detectives from the Serious and Organised Financial Crime Investigation Section arrested Tolhurst in July 2020.

Scott Tolhurst leaving the Adelaide Magistrates Court after an earlier appearance. Photo: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

Police previously alleged he received almost $6m for wine he did not then supply to the victims.

However, after negotiations, Tolhurst pleaded guilty to two counts of deception.

Lindy Powell KC, for Tolhurst, pushed for a home detention sentence for her client, saying while it was a unique application for such serious offending it was a unique case.

“Gambling is an illness, it’s a sickness and Mr Tolhurst was a sick, ill man when he suffered from this addiction,” she said.

Ms Powell said she hadn’t encountered a case in her 50 years of practice where an offender had rehabilitated themselves such as Tolhurst had.

“This man has had to do it (rehabilitate), knowing that all of his community around him knows about it,” she said.

“And he’s had to own up to all those people who respected him so much previously.”

The court heard Tolhurst, who was previously a very successful businessman, lost everything in the offending, including his family home.

Ms Powell said it wasn’t until August 2018 the “balloon blew up in Mr Tolhurst’s mind” and he realised he didn’t have the capacity to fulfil the contract.

“Up to then it’s a mixture of a gambler’s optimism and thinking you can trade your way out of it,” she said.

The court heard Tolhurst, who has been unable to make financial restitution to the company, now looked after the children while his partner was the primary breadwinner.

Judge Kris Handshin will sentence Tolhurst next month.