Melbourne mums 2020: Caroline Cassar, Hayley Terei, Bree Hughes fronted court
Not all mothers are nice judging by these wicked and naughty Melbourne mums who went bad and fronted court in 2020.
Outer East
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A Madhatter mum who attacked her daughter’s ex, a fiend mum who robbed her sex victim and a scoundrel mum who ran a bank identity rort are pretty far from the nice, caring and nurturing mothers we all know and love.
Here are some of the more devilish and wicked Melbourne mums to front court in 2020.
DOLE-BLUDGER MUM: JADE CHEASLEY
Cheasley, 31, stole $102,086.55 in parenting payment benefits between March 2013 and May 2018 by lying, claiming she had split up with her husband and was in financial hardship.
She told Centrelink she was living in her car, had tried to get food parcels for her children, claimed her dad was a “verbally abusive” alcoholic and said she had nowhere else to go.
In reality, Cheasley was living with her husband and kids at their $565,000 Craigieburn home.
The couple also owned a $125,000 investment property and later bought a $870,000 house.
Cheasley jointly held two business accounts linked to her husband’s company Lifestyle Roofing Pty Ltd.
He earned $226,000 a year from the company which had a yearly turnover of more than $300,000.
The couple owned another $780,000 in assets including cars, savings and a boat.
They took their children to Honolulu and the Gold Coast during the deception.
Cheasley’s crime was uncovered by the Department of Human Services in June 2017 after “tip offs from the public”.
Investigators sifted through “thousands” of text messages between Cheasley and her husband including some which uncovered how she kept her devious ruse going.
In October Cheasley was jailed for 18 months but ordered to be released after serving two-and-a-half months.
She was ordered to repay Centrelink.
SWINGING CRIM MUM: HAYLEY TEREI
Swinger mum Hayley Terei was jailed after her and her boyfriend conspired to steal a man’s car, barricading him inside a house, after he came and joined them in the bedroom.
The Heidelberg West mother-of-four and her then-boyfriend stole the victim’s car immediately after they met him and engaged in sexual activity with him in the early hours of December 13, 2019.
They had invited the man, who they’d connected with on dating application Aussie Swingers, to a Meadow Heights house where Terei’s boyfriend was staying.
The three participated in sexual activity before Terei went to shower then called out for a towel, and her boyfriend left the room.
Minutes later the man heard his car start in the driveway, then found the front door of the house had been barricaded with timber.
By the time he removed the timber the couple had fled with the car, which also contained his phone, wallet and house keys.
Weeks earlier the pair had stolen a car from a woman they’d met at Thomastown sex store Club-X.
The 29-year-old, who also pleaded guilty to repeatedly driving while disqualified was sentenced to two months’ jail and a 12-month corrections order at the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court in December.
BLACKMAILER MAFIA MUM: CAROLINE CASSAR
Kings Park mum Caroline Cassar, who blackmailed her friend over a dispute about $50, threatening to set her ex-con boyfriend and his mates on the woman, avoided jail.
Cassar, 41, went on the warpath after she loaned her ex-mate $50 for petrol but never got it back, then got her steam up after the woman finished babysitting duties a few minutes earlier than agreed.
The woman, who understood the $50 was payment for babysitting, lost her phone for three days in October 2018 but discovered 20 missed calls and numerous text messages from Cassar when she got it back.
Cassar begged for the money back because she needed to help pay her boyfriend Joe Madafferi’s barrister fees, according to a message she sent.
After the woman changed her mobile number and blocked her nemesis on Facebook
Cassar barraged her former friend’s boyfriend with threatening messages.
“We know where she lives and if she wants to mess with a Madafferi then go ahead she wont get far,” Cassar said.
“Rocky (Madafferi) and his mates are coming to collet (sic) also they know who u work for so if u wanna keep f***ing me around like this u will know about it.”
Cassar sent her friend messages which said her boyfriend was getting out of jail and would collect the money and also threatened to go to the woman’s children’s school.
“You have no idea the people I know and they will go to any length to get me what is owed and the longer u take the more the bill increases,” Cassar wrote.
Cassar was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and fined $400 at the County Court in December.
GRAFFITI MUM: STACEY CURRIE
Infamous graffiti Stacey Currie mum, who became a worldwide viral sensation after daubing ‘Where’s Chris’ all over Frankston foreshore, was finally sentenced.
The now mother-of-two became a social media sensation after daubing her desperate demands all over Frankston barbecues, laneways and public toilets in July 2019.
Scrawled in large letters the seven-month pregnant Currie called for the baby’s future father to contact her, writing “Chris u need 2 talk 2 me b4 baby is born or don’t bother after”.
Currie also brought a dagger into the Frankston court complex in June 2019, and was on bail when she launched her tagging crusade.
The 37-year-old was convicted and fined $1050 and ordered to pay $1000 compensation to Frankston Council when she fronted Frankston Magistrates’ Court last November.
VIOLENT VENGEFUL MUM: SWITA JAWANSHER
Madhatter mum Swita Jawansher, who bashed her daughter’s ex-boyfriend in a frenzied
attack at Frankston, avoided jail.
Jawansher pounced after her daughter’s cop-impersonating boyfriend lured the 19-year-old victim to various locations in Frankston.
The mother-of-four laid two punches into her victims ribs during one occasion.
The torment continued at the George Pentland Botanical Gardens where the boyfriend told the victim he “wanted him dead” but there would be “too much paperwork”.
In a secluded area of the park, the boyfriend told the victim to get on his knees before holding the victim from behind with a scarf.
Jawansher, from Skye, used all her force to slap him about 20 times in the face before pulling his hair and kicking him in the groin.
The mum interrogated the petrified teen before wrapping the scarf around his head and forcing him back into the car.
The 47-year-old received a two-year good behaviour order in County Court in October.
BOGUS BANK-GOER: BREE HUGHES
Werribee mum Bree Hughes, who fleeced several victims’ bank accounts and took out big cash loans with stolen identification to feed her drug and gambling addictions, was jailed.
Hughes, 30, weaselled more than $80,000 through her sophisticated 10-month cloak-and-dagger scheme where she entered banks across Melbourne in disguise between 2017 and 2018.
Her many victims were scattered throughout Victoria and NSW.
Hughes obtained her victim’s identities — including Medicare cards and driver’s licences — through thefts and burglaries.
She then altered photo ID by placing her photo over her victim’s photo”.
Hughes used the doctored ID to change her victim’s bank account details then transferred her victims’ money into accounts she created with false identification.
Hughes used doctored ID and false pay slips to apply for personal loans up to $30,000.
Hughes disguised herself with long jackets, scarfs, beanies and dark wigs when she went back to the banks to withdraw money.
She pocketed more than $70,000 cash and transferred $9000 transferred to a Bitcoin dealer.
Fraud police launched Operation Recessed 2018 to capture Hughes and she was arrested in August 2018.
Hughes was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and a 24-month community correction order in the County Court in March.
CENTRELINK CHEAT MUM: ALLISON DALTON
Boronia mum Allison Dalton, who fleeced $92,000 from Centrelink while working for a State Government department, avoided jail.
Dalton, 42, earned up to $1900 a fortnight working for the Department of Health and Human Services while getting the dole between December 2012 and March 2018.
Dalton, who claimed parent payments and study benefits, obtained $92,839 while she earned close to $400,000 from her part-time disability support worker job during the period.
The court heard Dalton enrolled to study but left the course because it was “too difficult”.
She kept receiving the study payments.
Dalton claimed her ex-partner blew most of the cash on alcohol and gambling.
Federal department Services Australia — which oversees Centrelink — contacted Dalton in August 2016 querying her income declaration but Dalton kept offending.
A thorough investigation finalised in 2019 uncovered the fraud.
Dalton was sentenced to 20-months’ jail but was released on a two-year good behaviour bond in the County Court in August and was ordered to repay $85,000.
DRINK DRIVER MUM: CARA BUCHANAN
A teacher who was caught drink-driving with her two toddlers in the car — causing accidents both times — was banned from the road for three years.
Cara Michelle Buchanan was nabbed blotto behind the wheel with her one-year-old and three-year-old in the back seat on two separate occasions in a two-month period in 2019.
Once she refused an evidentiary breath test after proving positive in a preliminary and in a second incident she had to be taken to hospital, with her blood sample reading four times over the limit.
During the first incident in Bonbeach police watched Buchanan hit a kerb, knock over a sign and run over a road workers’ cone — which ended up 800m further up the street
Two months later she rear-ended a slowing car on Railway Parade in Seaford, causing enough damage to both vehicles that they had to be towed away.
The 37-year-old from Edithvale was convicted and fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for three years before Frankston Magistrates’ Court in September.
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