Robert Wayne Collins faces SA court accused of stealing $1.3m from investors while serving nine-year sentence for fraud

A prison sentence allegedly did not stop this man – whose history of fraud dates back to 1973 – from fleecing yet more investors, a court has been told

A man jailed for his “serious history of fraudulent behaviour” stole a further $1.3 million while serving a home detention sentence and used it to pay his lawyers, a court has heard.

Robert Wayne Collins is currently serving a nine-year prison term for forging emails from the US Secretary of State, a Middle Eastern prince and a global banker to steal $450,000.

On Tuesday, he faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court by video link accused of having defrauded multiple investors between August 2015 and March 2022.

Representing himself, Collins asked the court to grant him bail – saying prison authorities would otherwise keep him in a high-security facility until his case was resolved.

“Without bail on this matter, I can’t be moved to Cadell or the Adelaide Pre-release Centre … I’m getting on 82 years old, I can’t handle this (high-security) environment,” he said.

A police prosecutor, however, said the court could have no faith in Collins because, the last time he was shown leniency, he exploited it to commit further crimes.

Robert Wayne Collins outside the District Court in 2015.

“In July of 2021, Collins was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence on home detention … he committed some of these offences while doing so,” she said.

“He’s stolen $1.3 million in total and none of that money has been recovered … it would appear $450,000 was transferred and used for legal fees at four different law firms.

“We would oppose any grant of bail … this is a man with a quite lengthy history of dishonesty offending.”

Collins, 81, of Hackham, has yet to plead to 10 counts of aggravated theft and one count of aggravated dishonest dealing with documents.

Previously, prosecutors have alleged he was acting in a position of trust when several people gave him money to invest in self-managed super funds and international opportunities.

They have further alleged Collins instead used that money for his own benefit.

Mr Collins outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court in 2016.

In 2015, the District Court ordered Mr Collins to pay $450,000 to 11 people who asserted they were deceived by his claims of foreign charity and US investments.

He was subsequently prosecuted and found guilty of fraud and dishonesty offences over those same claims, with a psychologist’s report concluding he was a narcissist.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, accused him of committing further fraud during his defence case – alleging he had falsified his own character references.

The District Court heard Collins had spent 17 years in jail since 1973 and had committed fraud offences consistently over the course of 47 years.

It also heard he had used his victims’ money to pay off his mortgage, go on holiday and buy a Mercedes Benz – and spent all but $4000 of one victim’s $100,000 in just five days.

The court jailed Mr Collins for a minimum of four years – a sentence which has yet to expire, but for which he is now eligible to seek release on parole.

Mr Collins, the court heard, has an offending history dating back 47 years.

On Tuesday, the police prosecutor said Collins should not be considered for bail if there was any chance he would then be released into the community on parole.

She said police feared he would immediately resume offending if allowed to step outside the controlled living environment of prison, and he had allegedly done in the latest charges.

Collins protested, claiming the alleged offending “was before I went on home detention”, but Magistrate Brian Nitschke said court documents showed otherwise.

“One of the counts alleges that, on March 19, 2022, you committed fraud … that’s within the period of time you were serving your sentence on home detention,” he told Collins.

“I’m not prepared to grant you bail … you have a significant history of fraudulent behaviour and, at the moment, it’s alleged you committed offences while serving a sentence.

“The risk that you may offend while on bail is, in my view, too great – as is the risk that, if released, you might fail to attend court.”

He remanded Collins in custody until September.