Cairns woman Joann Melissa Dowey, 40, sentenced in court for $150,000 GST fraud

A Cairns woman has been jailed after she used the guise of a drug counselling business to attempt to defraud the ATO to the tune of more than $150,000 to fuel her meth addiction.

A Cairns woman has been jailed after she used the guise of a drug counselling business to attempt to defraud the Australian Tax Office out of more than $150,000 to fuel her meth addiction.

Joann Melissa Dowey pleaded guilty to 16 fraud charges in Cairns District Court on Thursday after she made false BAS statements to claim GST refunds and filed a false tax return on a non-existent drug counselling business.

Similar GST scams have been prevalent in Cairns with Judge Dean Morzone commenting “here we go again” as the sentencing proceeding began.

Dowey was convicted of 10 counts of attempting to gain financial advantage by deceit and six counts of obtaining financial advantage by deceit.

Commonwealth Prosecutor Sam Lanskey told the court the total of Dowey’s fraud came to $157,809 with her successfully obtaining $55,405 of Australian taxpayers’ money.

“The defendant took the preliminary step of applying for GST on a pre-existing Australian Business Number registered as drug rehabilitation counselling services,” he said.

The court heard Dowey made 15 false BAS statements between November 2021 and July 2022.

Joann Melissa Dowey pleaded guilty to 16 fraud charges in Cairns District Court on Thursday after she made false BAS statements to claim GST refunds and filed a false tax return on a drug counselling business that did not exist. Photo: Facebook

Mr Lanskey told the court Dowey continued to submit false statements despite being advised she was being audited by the ATO.

“She was fully aware her claims were false, this was blatant offending born out of her desire to obtain money quickly.”

Mr Lanskey said Dowey was motivated by “greed rather than need” noting she was receiving jobseeker payments from the Commonwealth at the time and said it could be inferred she used the money to fuel her drug addiction.

Defence counsel Joseph Jacobs argued it was a case of need as her “condition” — drug addiction — “required her to use meth”.

“It is a case of need in her world and thinking at the time,” he said.

The court heard Dowey had a long history of drug and dishonesty offences including, trafficking, break and enters, stealing, and drug possession with Justice James Henry describing a “chaotic drug addict lifestyle” in a sentencing in the Supreme Court in March this year.

Joann Melissa Dowey pleaded guilty to 16 fraud charges in Cairns District Court on Thursday after she made false BAS statements to claim GST refunds and filed a false tax return on a drug counselling business that did not exist. Photo: Facebook

Mr Jacobs said the prospect of repaying the funds attained was “likely nil” and told the court Dowey was taking steps in her rehabilitation for meth use.

“She is making a genuine effort to rehabilitate her life,’ he said.

Judge Morzone said it was clear she “did not operate any business enterprise” and called claims of business expenses of about $2m dollars “foolish”.

He said the fraud was “likely” used to sustain her drug addiction.

Dowey was sentenced to two years imprisonment to be released after serving four months and ordered to make reparations of $55,400 to the Commonwealth.

 

Originally published as Cairns woman Joann Melissa Dowey, 40, sentenced in court for $150,000 GST fraud