Hayley Karatiana, Kelly Edmonds jailed for perverting the course of justice after cancer scam
A compulsive liar orchestrated the shooting of a family home over a schoolyard dispute, before successfully faking brain cancer to get bail.
Macarthur
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A mum handed a .22 sawn-off shotgun to her dealer to shoot at an innocent family’s home in Glenfield in 2017, after creating a string of lies to make it seem they owed drug money, a court has heard.
Hayley Karatiana, 31, had become involved in a dispute with another family at her child’s school and animosity continued to grow.
She started to turn up to the victim’s workplace, made prank calls and drove frequently past their home.
Karatiana’s vendetta took a dangerous turn, when she fabricated a story.
On Friday, Campbelltown District Court heard she asked her friend and drug dealer Shannon Wilkie to order a quantity of drugs for a factitious man named ‘Shane.’
When the deal fell through, Wilkie became agitated that he’d spent $1000 on the drugs from his supplier but had not received payment from ‘Shane.’
Karatiana gave him the home address of the victims in Hurlstone Avenue, Glenfield, telling Wilkie that is where he would find ‘Shane.’
In the early hours of August 1, 2017, Karatiana handed Wilkie a loaded sawn-off shotgun and he fired four shots into the home, landing in the living room and children’s play area.
The family of four, including two children aged 7 and 9, were home at the time.
Karatiana drove off and hid the shotgun in a caravan before she was arrested by police days later.
She was charged with firing a firearm into a dwelling house and possessing a firearm.
While in custody, Karatiana and her partner Kelly Edmonds, 40, started fabricating a plan to get her out on Supreme Court bail, the court heard.
Several fake letters were tendered to the court, claiming to have been written by a doctor at St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane, stating that Karatiana was terminally ill.
The letters claimed she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer, lung cancer, diabetes and lesions on the brain.
“Miss Karatiana requires specialist treatment for her terminal condition, without such treatment her quality of life would be very bleak,” the letter stated in agreed facts tendered to the court.
She was granted Supreme Court bail on October 10, 2017.
However, suspicions began to arise before Ms Karatiana’s trial was due to begin earlier this year and police launched an investigation into the authenticity of the letters.
Detectives contacted the doctor listed on the letter, who confirmed she no longer worked at the hospital, the signature was not hers, and the letterhead was incorrect.
Ms Edmonds was arrested on November 15, 2019 and admitted in a police interview to googling the name of the doctor and letterhead to get her partner ‘a lesser sentence.’
Both women were charged with two counts of perverting the course of justice.
In sentencing, Judge Colefax said the letters were ‘critically important in her honour’s decision to grant (Supreme Court) bail and to get a permanent stay on proceedings.’
He labelled the women’s actions as ‘a direct attack on the criminal justice system.’
Hayley Karatiana was sentenced to 12 years prison with a nine year non-parole period.
Kelly Edmonds was sentenced to four years and six months prison.
Karatiana indicated to her lawyer, her intention to appeal the severity of the sentence.
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