Cheating husband drives woman into gambling spiral

An overseas student recruiter who gambled away $20k in tuition fees meant for an overseas student has received a harsh lesson.

An overseas student recruiter who turned to gambling after her husband cheated on her has been sentenced for splurging $20,000 in stolen money at a casino.

Xhi Hong Lin, 57, of Calamvale, pleaded guilty to three charges of dishonestly applying money between January and June, 2017.

Richlands Magistrates Court heard she migrated to Australia from China in 2000, and in 2013 married a Chinese man who was involved in a failed mining venture.

She lost all her savings and then found her husband, who had moved back to China, had been seeing another woman.

Her lawyer, Jacilynn Young, said that discovery saw Lin descend into depression and develop mental illness.

She turned to gambling, initially with friends and then alone.

Lin eventually got herself banned from the casino after she started borrowing money from friends and became estranged from her daughter.

Ms Young said Lin, who earned a masters degree from QUT, had a good work history at IAE Study in Australia, based in Fortitude Valley, where she organised visa applications and recruited overseas students.

But at the height of her gambling she withdrew a total of $20,572 from the mother of a University of Queensland student, which was meant to pay for tuition fees, and blew it at the Brisbane Treasury Casino.

The court heard Lin transferred the money into two Chinese bank accounts in several transactions.

She presented $1000 in cash to the court after her appearance on Friday (February 26) to help re-pay the victim.

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Ms Young said Lin had limited ability to pay restitution as she was now on Centrelink benefits, but Magistrate Aaron Simpson disagreed and ordered she repay the money in instalments via the State Penalties Enforcement Registry.

“The mother had to pay the tuition fees to the University of Queendsland again,’’ Mr Simpson said.

“You made excuses, you said you had paid by cheque.

“A gambling addiction is a problem, not just for you but for other people in the community.

“You’re a mature person. At the age of 53 you committed fraud against someone who could ill afford it.

“What you did was appalling, it was an abuse of trust of these people.’’

Mr Simpson sentenced Lin to 12 months’ imprisonment on each of the three charges “to send a message to you and to others’’.

He wholly suspended the sentences for two years and recorded convictions on all charges.