Angela Liberatore found guilty of fraud over house and land scam
A woman has broken down in court while revealing her “relentless heartache” after being ripped off by a cousin she “wholeheartedly” believed.
Outer East
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The victim of an elaborate scam has broken down in court while detailing her “grief and betrayal” after she was conned by a “smooth talking” cousin.
Jessica Lacivita sobbed and needed her sister to join her on the stand for support as she read aloud her victim impact statement during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday for Angela Liberatore of Templestowe.
Liberatore, 49, was convicted following a jury trial, on August 16, of 35 deception charges.
Her bail was revoked and she was remanded into custody.
The offences included 33 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception after convincing Ms Lacivita and her husband Peter Koukos to hand over almost $400,000 for a fake house and land package.
On Wednesday the court heard Ms Lacivita and Mr Koukos took out loans of $327,500 to give Liberatore for the deal.
The couple paid Liberatore $382,400 in total.
Ms Lacivita said she suffered from “relentless emotional distress and heartache” over the scam which took place between March 2014 and December 2016.
“ (Liberatore) looked into my eyes and lied to my face without flinching. I wholeheartedly believed what she was telling me … she was reassuring me it wasn’t a scam,” she told the court.
“I feel so mad at myself that I was so gullible and believed what I was being told because Angela was a smooth talker, full of confidence and so convincing.”
Ms Lacivita said Liberatore, who she considered her “best friend”, had promised financial success but left the couple with a “huge financial burden”.
“I could have secured a more promising future for my beautiful kids and instead am paying off a huge loan with absolutely nothing to show for it,” she said.
“My hopes and dreams of owning a house and land package has totally been crushed and now we have nothing.”
In a letter read out by the prosecution Mr Koukos detailed how he had lost countless hours of sleep because of “Angela’s lies”.
“When I finally do awake, I wake up in a panicked state worried about how I am going to keep the roof over our heads,” Mr Ko
“How could this women, who we trusted, who we let into our house, do this to us?
“What did we do to deserve this?”
Judge Douglas Trapnell said Liberatore’s actions were an “appalling breach of trust by a family member over two years and nine months”.
“The offender went with one of the victims to the bank to organise the loans,” he said.
“This is not the case of rich victims who’ve got cash lying around, they’ve indebted themselves to pay the money to the offender.”
The court heard that Liberatore had a history of deception with priors dating back to 2012.
According to court documents she had previously served three community corrections orders for similar offending.
The most recent was an order imposed in January, 2019 that included rehabilitative components.
Liberatore has not reoffended for more than five years.
The hearing will continue on Thursday.
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