Gladstone man Gordon Kenneth Roebuck pleads guilty to stealing over $79,000 from his vulnerable mother

A Gladstone man drained his elderly mother’s bank account and left her in debt to an aged care home after stealing more than $79,000 from her over two years. Here’s what happened in court.

A Gladstone man has pleaded guilty to stealing almost $80,000 from his own mother, with court documents revealing he only stopped when the accounts ran dry.

Gordon Kenneth Roebuck, 58, was sentenced in the Gladstone District Court to four years imprisonment, suspended after 16 months, after pleading guilty to dishonestly causing financial loss in excess of $30,000.

Roebuck’s offending spanned 91 transactions between 2017 and 2019, misappropriating his mother’s money, who was in her early 80s at the time, which he had access to as her enduring power of attorney.

Crown Prosecutor Amelia Baker-Smith said the maximum penalty for such offending was 14 years imprisonment, which she said indicated the seriousness of the matter and the community’s condemnation of such conduct.

“The defendant is a mature man in a significant position of trust who defrauded a vulnerable woman, his mother, it is an abhorrent breach of that trust,” Ms Baker-Smith said.

“Firm penalties ought to be imposed on those who intentionally prey on the vulnerable and elderly … and serve to deter others from committing such offences.”

Ms Baker-Smith submitted the offending was protracted and only ceased when Roebuck’s mother’s bank account was emptied and her accommodation at an aged-care facility was in arrears of almost $10,000.

Court documents reveal the offending was only alerted to police after the facility notified Roebuck’s mother.

Defence barrister Scott Moon said the defendant, who is on a disability support pension, made no excuses for his offending but was unable to pay the money back.

“There are no excuses and he accepts that, he was using the funds for everyday items but there was no extravagant lifestyle or gambling or the like,” Mr Moon said.

“My client, understandably, has no contact with his mother but he wishes to apologise to her for his behaviour … unfortunately has no way of paying her back.”

It is understood the pair are estranged and have not spoken since revelations of the offending.

Judge Jeffrey Clarke, in his sentencing remarks, said it was “hard to fathom” how one could engage in such offending.

“Your mother was aged in her early 80s at the time and you were in a significant position of trust,” Judge Clarke said.

“You breached that trust in your appointment as her enduring power of attorney and there was a high number of transactions.

“I’m told it started as a loan of money for a car and snowballed into stealing over a period of time, there was seemingly no attempt at concealment of your criminal conduct.”

Judge Clarke said while the defendant did not pose a risk to the community, the maximum penalty of 14 years reflected the seriousness nature of the offending and community expectations to deter others.