Lutchmee Robinson jailed for swindling workplace out of millions

A former civil construction and excavation employee who swindled her workplace out of more than $1.4m has been jailed. Here’s how she was funnelling out the cash.

Lutchmee Robinson was sentenced to 7 years in prison with a parole eligibility date of February 2026, after she swindled her former workplace out of more than $1 million. Photo: Social media

A Gympie woman swindled her workplace out of more than $1 million over two and a half years and used the money to fund expensive holidays and pay off her mortgage, a court has been told.

Lutchmee Robinson, 51, was supported by her daughter and other family members in the public gallery of the Maroochydore District Court on Wednesday, April 3, as she faced the consequences of taking millions of dollars from her former employer between 2017 and 2019.

The court was told Robinson, who was employed by T & L Byrne Excavations and Byrne Civil Projects as a bookkeeper, had swindled the companies out of approximately $1.43 million by overpaying herself, over inflating leave entitlements and having them cashed out, among other unauthorised transactions.

Crown prosecutor Rhys Byrne said this carried on for 32 months and Robinson tried to cover her tracks by manipulating company records. Her offending was eventually detected by an external HR company.

Mr Byrne told the court Robinson was then confronted by her employer in late 2019 and she immediately resigned.

He said Robinson’s employer was alerted to the fraud while dealing with a terminal illness. He has since passed away.

The court was told the money was used to service Robinson’s home loan and to pay for “luxurious” holidays.

A civil claim was filed in 2020, and a complaint to police about the fraud was made in February 2021.

Shortly after the complaint, $16,000 in cash was seized during a search at her house.

Mr Byrne told the court the companies were still operating today, but were forced to liquidate some assets post-fraud.

Barrister Matthew Hynes told the court his client was under “significant stress” at the time of the offending, and tendered a report from a psychologist which said Robinson had claimed she took the money in the beginning to flee to South Africa, her birth country, to escape a violent relationship.

Mr Hynes said this stress caused her to act in an “unusual way”. He said his client was “usually trusted” around money and had no criminal history prior to this case.

The court was told Robinson had begun abusing alcohol during this violent relationship, which had now led to undiagnosed health issues.

She was now employed in a similar role at a different company, who described her as a “good and valuable” employee.

Robinson pleaded guilty in November to a sole charge of fraud - dishonestly obtain property by employee of at least $100,000.

Judge Glen Cash sentenced Robinson to seven years prison, with a parole eligibility date of February 3, 2026.

A conviction was recorded.

Robinson’s daughter sat with her in the dock shortly after the sentencing and sobbed with her mother before she was taken away.