Annabel Walker: Southern Highlands socialite stole thousands of dollars
She’s the Southern Highlands socialite used to the high life. But this 32-year-old now faces the very “real prospect” of jail after pleading guilty to stealing tens of thousands of dollars including $17k from her own employer.
Central Sydney
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A former private school girl who stole tens of thousands of dollars including more than $17,000 from her boss has been told she faces the “real prospect” of prison.
Annabel Walker, 32, from Bowral, attended Downing Centre court on Wednesday wearing a long beige coat where she was set to be sentenced for four offences.
The Southern Highlands socialite has pleaded guilty to four counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, when she was an administrative assistant for Aust. Leisure Group.
While working at the company and living the high life in Sydney’s eastern suburbs she swindled $17,198.62 between February and May last year using her boss Jason Hugh Clarke’s credit card.
Mr Clarke has previously spoken of the shock at her offending having given her a position of trust
Walker, who is an alumni of the prestigious Frensham school, also stole from a range of businesses including $2,816 from painting consultancy Steady Hand Studio and $3361.60 from Fire Fly Lighting.
In court, magistrate Susan McIntyre said the accused had a “shocking record” including two breaches of her community corrections order (CCO).
She further said she will revoke Walker’s CCO and beef up her punishment.
“The CCO’s will be revoked and we are going up. Multiple driving while disqualified (offences) are a real concern and imprisonment is a real prospect...it is a prospect,” she told the court.
“It just depends how the imprisonment is served.”
However, the magistrate also took aim at the police prosecutor Craig Smith saying facts were missing for some of the charges and called on Walker’s lawyer Michael Moussa and the prosecutor to fix up the court documents before proceeding.
“This is a mess and it’s not my job,” she said.
When it became clear that her sentence was not to happen today, the prosecutor made a last-minute detention application.
It comes after police accused Walker of sending police a “fake admission letter” to attending South Coast Private Hospital.
“What?” the magistrate said before cautioning the prosecutor in making such allegations without evidence in court documents.
The detention application was opposed by Walker’s defence who argued she had attended the hospital and claimed there was no evidence to substantiate the allegation.
Her lawyer Mr Moussa argued there was insufficient notice provided to the defence and that there were delays of up to three weeks to obtain her records from the hospital.
The magistrate dismissed the detention application saying it would be “unfair” for it to go ahead today.
Walker has also pleaded guilty to two driving offences; driving with low range Prescribed Concentration of Alcohol (PCA) and driving when disqualified, which are still before the courts.
Speaking to NewsCorp, one of her victims Steady Hand Studio business owner Lance Corlett said in the scheme of things “it wasn’t a lot of money” but being a one-man business, every cent counts.
Mr Corlett said he was assigned for a painting job last year when Walker didn’t pay him for his work.
“It’s pretty shocking,” Mr Corlett said.
“Basically being a small business it’s just trust. We take on a job and they (the customer) say they will pay you. For low-cost jobs you don’t take a deposit,” he said.
“I did the job and she didn’t pay me and then it’s the process of chasing up payment.”
Magistrate McIntyre revoked her CCO and her bail was granted. Her police reporting was dropped and her change of address requests were approved so she could stay at each of her parents’ homes during the week. She was also slapped with a curfew from 11pm-6am.
Outside court, Walker asked why media were covering her matter now. “Why not a year ago?”
She complained she had lost her job and lease in the last week after an article was published.
Her lawyer Michael Moussa told NewsCorp, “Ms Walker has done everything in her power to rehabilitate herself including adhering to her strict bail conditions and has seen the necessary professionals to assist in underlying issues that has come her way.”
“While the allegations made against her are serious, the court is likely to be satisfied that the actions taken by Ms Walker throughout the past 12 months are more than adequate to protect the community.”
Walker will reappear in court for sentence in September.