Beenleigh court: Six Logan people who lived secret criminal lives
Teacher’s aides, jewellers, personal carers and construction managers - these are six prominent Logan residents who weren’t who you thought.
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Teacher’s aides, jewellers, personal carers and construction managers: these are six prominent Logan residents to have faced Beenleigh Magistrates Court in 2020 who weren’t who you thought they were.
1) Hussein Ahmed, 29, building estimator
In early 2016, Beenleigh-based builder Watermark Homes, established in 1997, was not doing well.
Half a year earlier, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) had suspended its licence over its failure to meet minimum financial requirements and the company was teetering on the brink.
However, things went from bad to worse when estimator Hussein Ahmed, 29, defrauded his employer of about $35,000, a grievous blow at a time the business could ill afford it.
Ahmed, who now lives in South Brisbane, used his company login to access a program called Databuild, where he substituted his bank details on two subcontractor payments, $30,000 from Brisbane concreter Slab Solutions and $5130.90 from a tiling contractor.
The two transactions occurred sometime between 5 – 17 February, 2016.
On March 14, after being sprung, Ahmed told his bosses he could only repay about $5000 – the rest was gone.
He was charged with fraud in mid-2017 but his case was only resolved at the end of May this year.
Ahmed was sentenced to a two-and-a-half year term of imprisonment, wholly suspended. A conviction was recorded. All money has been repaid.
It’s understood Ahmed continues to work in the building and construction industry.
2) Helen Millin, 59, personal carer
When Park Ridge South woman Helen Ann Millin’s 93-year-old former mother-in-law became ill in her dotage, Millin and her ex-husband offered to host the frail woman and help look after her.
Under this arrangement, the unemployed Millin, who now lives at Morayfield, became her mother-in-law’s de facto carer, being paid $150 a week by her husband, who Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard was controlling and abusive.
Part of Millin’s responsibilities included withdrawing money each week for her mother-in-law, enough to cover her weekly board/expenses with some left over for a bottle of scotch and packet of fags.
Between October 7, 2014 – January 20, 2018, Millin used these weekly withdrawals to drain just shy of $80,000 from the elderly woman’s accounts.
The theft was discovered when the mother-in-law wanted to go on a cruise with her daughter and discovered she had just $13.49 left in her bank.
Millin was ordered to serve four months of a three-year jail term. A conviction was recorded.
3) Desmond Rennex, 57, jeweller
A jeweller so stressed out by a $1.5 million tax bill racked up by himself and his wife of 30 years relapsed into his old life of “polysubstance” drug abuse and arming himself with weapons.
Ormeau man Desmond Scott Rennex, 57, a man with a long history of drug and weapons offences, was charged by police in Loganholme on October 5 last year after he was discovered in possession of a stun gun, a small amount of methylamphetamine, and three digital scales.
Defence lawyer Adam Guest told the court the ATO was seeking about $588,000 from his client and about $888,000 from his client’s wife of 30 years, but that the debts are disputed.
Rennex was ordered to perform 80 hours’ community service. The stun gun and the scales were confiscated.
Rennex is listed on his LinkedIn as a “jewelry consultant” at Divas Gold.
4) Evelyne Mullineux, 69, pensioner
An elderly Logan woman who is an active church volunteer with a passion for helping house homeless people was revealed yet again as a drug supplier and inveterate user.
Waterford West woman Evelyne Susanne Mullineux, 69, was charged with four offences after a search warrant was executed on her home on December 6 last year.
They included possessing dangerous drugs, possessing property used in connection with the commission of a drug offence, and two counts of supplying dangerous drugs.
Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard Mullineux was found in possession of more than 200g of marijuana, scales and a mobile phone.
Despite her volunteer work with the homeless and her local church, Mullineux is no stranger to notoriety, being dubbed by Channel 9’s A Current Affair program the ‘drug granny’ after she was filmed in 2012 allegedly selling marijuana from her front porch in a dressing gown and slippers.
Mullineux pleaded guilty to the four charges. She was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole. Convictions were recorded.
5) Deborah Monaghan, 51, teacher’s aide
A respected teacher aide of more than 25 years at a Logan primary school who spends her spare time volunteering scammed the Federal Government of more than $50,000 in welfare payments she was not entitled to over a seven-year period.
Slacks Creek woman Deborah Monaghan, 51, a teacher aide at Mabel Park State School, will serve three months behind bars of a two-year sentence before being released on a three-year, $3000 good behaviour bond.
Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard Monaghan obtained a financial advantage of $50,443.02 from Services Australia by consistently under-reporting her earnings at the school.
The first period she obtained a financial advantage by deception was between September 29, 2011 – March 25, 2012 with the Newstart Allowance.
The second period was between May 22, 2012 – October 14, 2018 with the Disability Support Pension.
Monaghan is on leave at the school until the end of August and also had to resign her position as the treasurer of a local community group, the court was told.
Monaghan has yet to repay about $47,000 of the money.
6) Shane Robert Whyte, 40, disability pensioner
Bethania disability pensioner Shane Robert Whyte, 40, happily married for over a decade, is popular with his neighbours for his gregarious larrikinism.
However, behind closed doors, Whyte is a chronic drug user with a penchant for horticulture.
A search warrant executed on Whyte’s Bethania home on January 31 revealed a cornucopia of illicit substances, including three adult marijuana plants, bulbs, pots and fans as part of a hydroponic set-up, 860g of marijuana buds, a bong and digital scales, and two rounds of live ammunition.
He pleaded guilty to six offences, including permitting use of place, possessing dangerous drugs and possessing drug utensils.
Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan placed Whyte on probation for two years.
When she inquired as to his nearest office for probation, Whyte veered dangerously off-topic, to the alarm of Mr O’Brien.
“I live next door to a police officer,” Whyte announced, calling him a “lovely” man.
Mr O’Brien shushed him before he could go further.
Convictions were recorded.
