Jody Stoker admits to forgery amid bitter child support dispute
A woman admitted to “foolishly” forging a document as part of a bitter child support dispute with her ex-husband, who says he has been through “heartbreak and torture”.
Canberra Star
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A low level public servant forged a letter during a bitting child support dispute with her real estate agent ex-husband, leaving him feeling “heartbroken and tortured”, a court has heard.
Jody Stoker, also known as Jody Diane Maher, 49, was on Wednesday convicted and handed a good behaviour bond after earlier pleading guilty to forging a document to dishonestly influence a public official.
The ACT Magistrates Court heard the offending took place after Stoker’s ex-husband, Canberra real estate agent Jeremy Maher, asked authorities to slash the child support contributions he was paying.
Stoker’s legal aid lawyer, Todd Trotter, said his client “was stressed financially and emotionally and did something foolish”.
The forged letter was among dozens of documents Ms Stoker send to the Child Support Agency as part of her successful bid to keep Mr Maher paying child support.
It was unclear whether the bureaucrat overseeing the dispute was swayed by the forged letter, and Mr Trotter said the agency had since rejected another application from Mr Maher to have the child support payments reduced.
Stoker, an executive assistant in the public service, was looking after the former couple’s three sons when she forged the letter in 2018.
Stoker had only ever been in trouble with the law when she “stole a few little things from Myers”, Mr Trotter said.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Maher said the Child Support Agency had branded him a liar and his ex’s crime had put him through “heartbreak and torture”.
“Prior to this I was a driven and successful leader in my field,” he said.
Mr Maher he has been left out of pocket thousands.
In a police interview, Stoker said she could have had someone write and sign the letter legitimately, but forged it instead.
Magistrate Margaret Hunter said: “I just don’t understand why she did it in the first place”.
Mr Maher had been put through “some angst”, Ms Hunter said.
Ms Hunter convicted Stoker and put her on a six-month good behaviour order.