Former Hockeyroo Kate Hubble fined for faking cancer documents to cheat charity

A FORMER Hockeyroo has been sentenced for faking a doctor’s certificate after she claimed she was a cancer sufferer.

A FORMER Hockeyroo is still claiming to have cancer despite pleading guilty to faking a doctor’s certificate and medical letters to get sick leave from a charity.

Kathryn Hubble, of the Sydney suburb of Potts Point, told a co-worker at Redkite she didn’t “have a great deal of time” but her story unravelled when the registered cancer charity hired an investigator, according to the Crown’s statement of facts.

At Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, Hubble was convicted, fined more than $2600 and put on two 12-month good behaviour bonds for making and using false documents for a financial advantage.

Her lawyer Michael Bellingham said he’d been instructed that the 33-year-old has been diagnosed with cancer and had an oncologist.

However, magistrate Greg Grogin said there was no medical evidence before the court to show she has been or will be diagnosed with a cancer-related illness.

“I don’t know whether to treat Ms Hubble as a long-term liar or a person who deserves sympathy because she’s suffering from cancer,” Mr Grogin said in sentencing.

He said testimonials about seeing her go through chemotherapy and cancer-related treatment were of no assistance as they weren’t corroborated by medical evidence.

The sentencing on Tuesday dealt only with Hubble’s forgery of medical documents to get more than $1200 in sick leave in 2017 when she worked at Redkite, a charity supporting people with cancer.

Former Hockeyroo Kathryn Hubble claimed to be suffering from cancer. Picture: AAP

Mr Grogin described her behaviour as “deplorable” and said she should feel “thoroughly ashamed” for taking the money from people who needed it.

One of the few members of Australia’s national female hockey squad to train for the 2012 London Olympics injury free, Hubble told colleagues at Redkite in 2015 that cancer had made her too ill to work.

NSW Police Facts seen by news.com.au state that Hubble created a fake email address for one cancer specialist.

She then used another oncologist’s letter in Redkite’s computer records to invent a medical certificate from him describing serious cancer treatment she would undergo.

Her fraud has cost the Redkite charity more than $50,000 in salary, sick leave and other costs, the police facts say.

Hubble began working for Redkite in Sydney as a Team Co-ordinator in 2014.

The following year was promoted to Partnership & Event Specialist in her home state of Western Australia on a salary of $72,966.

In 2015, she told Redkite she had health issues and two letters on her personnel file from a Perth oncologist say she is unfit for work, and then only able to work part-time.

The second letter says her work status is pending completion of her treatment cycle.

Hubble then requested a transfer to Sydney to seek treatment for cancer.

The request was granted and Hubble moved states.

Hubble 32, claimed she had cancer which allowed her to take time off work.

The facts state that Redkite’s general manager, people & culture, Graeme Bartram “had numerous “one on one conversations” with Hubble.

When she told him her cancer was “terminal” and “I don’t have a great deal of time”, he told her Redkite had a “duty of care” to her.

On June 26 this year, Mr Bartram also requested supporting documentation from her medical specialists.

The following day, Mr Bartram received an email purporting to be from Dr Mark Sywak, who is professor of surgery at North Shore Private Hospital and at Royal North Shore Hospital.

The letter said she was unfit for work post surgery on June 19 this year, and that her treating physician Dr Gearoid O’Connor would provide further directives as to her health status.

Dr Sywak later told police the signature wasn’t his and that he had never prepared the document sent in his name.

On the same day, Mr Bartram also received emails from Hubble enclosing letters from Dr O’Connor.

Hubble told people she was terminally ill.

One letter said Hubble was a patient at Darlinghurst Medical Centre and gave advice for calling an ambulance if she fainted and suffered a “serious injury”.

In the second letter, Dr O’Connor stated “Kate is beginning immunotherapy treatment this week” and that it would be “intravenously administered” over a period of months.

The letter discussed side effects including pain, and suggested she work from home so as not to risk infection from a depleted immune system.

Dr O’Connor told police the letters were forged, but that the signature on each was his.

In a recorded interview with police at Redfern station in August, Hubble admitted to creating an email address for Dr Sywak and editing an original letter from Dr O’Connor on her computer.