Cancer conwoman Hanna Dickenson avoids jail after successful appeal
A CANCER conwoman who scammed tens of thousands of dollars out of people who believed she was dying has talked her way out of jail. Here’s how.
Law & Order
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A CANCER conwoman who scammed tens of thousands of dollars out of people who believed she was dying has talked her way out of jail.
Hanna Dickenson, 24, of Port Melbourne, was sentenced to three months behind bars by a magistrate over the sickening scam that saw her pocket more than $40,000.
The jail term was to be followed by a 12 month community corrections order.
Dickenson served just 21 days of the term before being released on bail after launching an appeal against the severity of the sentence.
CANCER FAKER BAILED PENDING APPEAL
Now she won’t need to spend another day behind bars after convincing a County Court judge to scrap any term of imprisonment.
Instead Judge Paul Lacava imposed a two year community corrections order requiring Dickenson complete 200 hours of unpaid community work and undergo drug and mental health treatment.
But he warned her any breach of the order would see her locked up once more.
“Don’t think it’s a get out of jail free card,” he said.
Dickenson’s lawyer argued that her life had been destroyed by the offending and subsequent media coverage.
The former property manager pleaded guilty to seven charges of obtaining property by deception that saw her raise $41,000 between 2013 and 2014.
She set up a false bank account in the name of a doctor to accept donations then blew the money on alcohol, drugs and holidays.
Dickenson, 19 at the time of her offending, was partying constantly and hard-up for cash.
She convinced her parents that, having had cancer treatment at the Epworth and Peter MacCallum hospitals and medical trials, she urgently needed costly treatment in Thailand and New Zealand.
She later told a doctor in country Victoria that she had been diagnosed in 2012 with Leomyosarcoma.
She asked to be referred to an oncologist, which she used to convince her parents that she was not responding to cancer treatment.
Her farmer parents, already under financial strain, went to their neighbours for help to assist in the treatment.
Contributors became suspicious after viewing photos of the supposedly terminally-ill woman on Facebook.
On her appeal Dickenson tendered a psychologists report that warned her mental health would be severely impacted if she was incarcerated.
The psychologist had met her just once.
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