Patricia Anne McIntyre granted appeal against ‘excessive’ sentence after scamming $26k from renters

A woman who scammed renters out of thousands of dollars has been granted an appeal against her “excessive” sentence.

Patricia Anne McIntyre was granted an appeal against her “excessive sentence” following a hearing in Maroochydore District Court.

A woman who scammed vulnerable renters out of thousands of dollars has been granted an appeal, with a judge ordering she no longer has to pay restitution to her victims.

Patricia Anne McIntyre scammed $26,000 from eight victims under the guise of providing them with a rental property in Ilkley between October 2020 and January 2021.

Two of her victims were forced into homelessness for several months while another woman lost $19,000 to McIntyre.

McIntyre was sentenced in Maroochydore Magistrates Court in April after pleading guilty to 17 offences including eight charges of fraud – dishonestly obtaining property from another and three charges of uttering a forged document.

Magistrate Maxine Baldwin had sentenced McIntyre to two years in prison with parole release on September 14, after serving eight months, and 89 days of pre-sentence custody was declared as time served.

She was ordered to pay a total of $26,110 in restitution to the victims.

A probation order given to McIntyre in September 2021 in Nambour Magistrates Court was revoked, and she was sentenced to six months in prison for four counts of fraud and one month for a stealing offence, with both suspended for three years.

McIntyre launched an appeal against the sentence and during the hearing defence barrister Lachlan Ygoa-McKeown told the Maroochydore District Court the sentence was “excessive.”

Mr Ygoa-McKeown said Ms Baldwin had failed to acknowledge McIntyre’s personal situation and history when making her decision, which led to an “error informed excessive sentence”.

Judge Gary Long handed down his decision on Friday, granting McIntyre the appeal against her sentence.

Judge Long said any orders which required McIntyre to pay restitution were to be set aside.

He said in respect of the orders made to revoke the probation order, each term of six months imprisonment was reduced to four months and each order for suspension of these terms were set aside.

The head sentence of two years remained unchanged.

McIntyre will be released on parole on September 14.