Gerrard Sheehan faked accident to fraudulently claim benefits

A former healthcare CEO, who said he was in a car accident because he swerved to avoid hitting a kangaroo, falsely claimed nearly $70,000 in benefits.

Gerrard Sheehan was sentenced in the Geelong Magistrates Court.

A former healthcare CEO, who said he was in a car accident because he swerved to avoid hitting a kangaroo, falsely claimed almost $70,000 in benefits.

Gerrard Sheehan, the 65-year-old former chief executive of Timboon and District Healthcare Service, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates Court on Monday to fraudulently obtaining benefits by falsely claiming he was injured in an accident.

On February 25, 2019, Sheehan sent text messages to his employer telling them he had been involved in a car accident.

In the messages Sheehan said “he was swerving to miss roos in Jancourt, did a 360 and hit his head”.

He went on to say: “I’m OK I think I hit my head … very sore shoulder and ribs from seat belt. Shouldn’t have swerved, so stupid.”

Over the next couple of days Sheehan regularly texted his employers claiming he needed treatment for his injuries.

On April 8 that year, Sheehan made a statement at the Colac Police Station and said a “big grey kangaroo jumped out and I gently veered around it and three other kangaroos came out”.

He told police he lost control of his vehicle and was sore as a result of the accident. When police asked to see the damaged car, he said it had already been fixed.

Sheehan also told police the accident happened on March 18, nearly four weeks after he sent the text to his employers.

Because Sheehan had reported the accident and injuries to police, the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) accepted his claim for compensation but Sheehan did not return to work due to his injuries.

A month later, his employers became suspicious about the amount of time Sheehan was taking off and asked him to explain. On May 20, he resigned from his position immediately.

When the TAC realised the date of his accident in the police report did not match up with his employer’s information, it launched an investigation.

Court documents reveal the vehicle Sheehan was driving had no damage consistent with an accident involving a kangaroo and there was no evidence that it had been repaired.

The investigation also revealed Sheehan did not seek the services of an ambulance, made no calls to triple-0 and had not been admitted to hospital.

In February 2020, his claims for compensation were revoked. Some of the payments he received directly or indirectly included: Loss of earning benefits, rehab services, psychiatry expenses, general mental health expenses, medical diagnostics and travel expenses – all of which amounted to $70,778.39.

Magistrate Franz Holzer convicted Sheehan and sentenced him to a community corrections order for two years as well as ordering him to do 300 hours of community work.

Sheehan was fined $5932 and was also ordered to pay back $70,000 to the TAC.

Mr Holzer said if it wasn’t for the guilty plea, he would have jailed Sheehan for a long time.

Originally published as Gerrard Sheehan faked accident to fraudulently claim benefits