Sarah Gatt’s partner allegedly claimed her Centrelink payments, months after she died
Sarah Gatt had been lying dead in a bathtub for almost nine months — but someone was still collecting the Melbourne mother’s Centrelink payments. The suspect’s identity was finally revealed in court today.
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A man accused of claiming Sarah Gatt’s Centrelink payments as she lay dead in a bathtub for almost nine months has been revealed as her partner.
Andrew Baker, 52, failed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today after being charged by the Department of Human Services with social security fraud.
Charge sheets allege he unlawfully received payments of disability support pension and carer’s allowance for Ms Gatt between May 2017 and February 2018.
The department alleges Mr Baker, who also goes by the name Andrew Mullarkey, failed to advise them of “a change in circumstances” and that Ms Gatt was deceased.
Ms Gatt’s body was found in the bath of her Lambeth St unit in Kensington on January 3 last year.
Police suspect the 40-year-old mother was killed around April 19, 2017.
No-one has been charged over her death.
Prosecutor Mathew Challen told the court that Mr Baker had been charged on summons over the welfare fraud last year.
“The allegation relates to the accused keeping payments belonging to his partner who was dead at the time,” Mr Challen said.
He said it was not the department’s policy to issue a warrant for arrest if an accused didn’t show for the first hearing.
DHHS would attempt to contact Mr Baker to remind him of his obligations to attend the next hearing on August 1, Mr Challen said.
Police this week released a statement saying homicide detectives were continuing to investigate Ms Gatt’s “suspicious death”.
Inspector Andrew Stamper said they would work hard to get justice for Ms Gatt and her family.
“We believe her body was deliberately concealed at the address and her killer took conscious steps to make people believe she was still alive for some time after her death,” Mr Stamper said.
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“We’ve always said that there are people out there who know what happened to Sarah and we continue to appeal to those people to come forward.”
He urged anyone with information about Ms Gatt’s death to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at crimestoppersvic.com.au.