Dole-cheat taekwondo champ Seda Demirkiran avoids jail for $89,000 Centrelink rort
A dole-cheat former taekwondo champ who represented Australia claimed financial hardship after fleecing $89,000 from Centrelink despite evidence the family home was registered in her name and she travelled overseas.
South East
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A junior taekwondo champ who rorted Centrelink for almost $89,000 has avoided jail.
Seda Demirkiran, 28, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a three-year community correction order after pleading guilty to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage by deception from a Commonwealth entity.
Demirkiran falsely claimed carer payments then rorted $88,297 from Centrelink’s coffers between January 2014 and August 2018.
The former Noble Park Secondary student earned almost $280,000 while she held down jobs with NAB, CommSec, Hays Recruitment and Cue & Co.
At the peak, Demirkiran raked in an average of $2819 a fortnight but told Centrelink she only earned a measly $382.50 during her entire four years of thievery.
Demirkiran weaseled carer payments after telling Centrelink she couldn’t hold down a job because she had to care for her mother’s serious illness and disability seven days a week.
Centrelink cut off Demirkiran’s payments in September 2015 after she failed to respond to a letter informing her of a review of her entitlements.
Demirkiran later asked Centrelink to reinstate her benefits after falsely declaring she “needed to spend more time at home”.
Centrelink regularly reminded Demirkiran of her income reporting obligations but the dole cheat’s skulduggery kicked on unabated.
An investigation was sparked via data-matching in April 2018.
Demirkiran, from Keysborough, was hauled into Centrelink Springvale for an interview in January 2019.
She admitted filling out the forms herself but claimed her “intention definitely was never to do anything wrong knowingly”.
It was submitted Demirkiran had a mental health issue which lessened her culpability.
However, the prosecution queried how Demirkiran could hold down four jobs, a long-term relationship and enjoy sporting success with “huge personality disorders”.
“Yet they only seem to have manifested in her lying to Centrelink,” the prosecutor said.
A doctor called onto to provide evidence told the court Demirkiran “progressed through the junior ranks and gained rep status for Australia in the Commonwealth Games.”
It was later clarified Demirkiran represented Australia at the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships.
The prosecution submitted Demirkiran undertook “overseas travel” and the family home was registered in her name during the offending period.
The court was told Demirkiran, a financial professional, has suffered financial hardship.
Demirkiran has paid back $800, the court was told.
Judge Michael Bourke said he accepted Demirkiran’s mental health issues contributed to some reduction of culpability but her offending was “prolonged” and “hard to detect”.
Demirkiran was also ordered to perform 350 hours of unpaid community work, be assessed and treated for mental health and repay Centrelink the full ammount.
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