Katrina Leigh Tyler, 40, sentenced in Toowoomba District Court for Wallace Bishop jewellery fraud

In the wake of a family tragedy, a Toowoomba mother of four defrauded thousands from her employer, pocketing an expensive piece of jewellery along the way.

Katrina Leigh Tyler pleaded guilty in Toowoomba District Court to fraud while an employee of Wallace Bishop.

A Toowoomba mother has sworn she will turn her life around after defrauding thousands from her former employer.

Katrina Leigh Tyler, 40, pleaded guilty to fraud as an employee after falsifying refunds and pocketing thousand dollar jewellery while working at Wallace Bishop in September 2019.

Toowoomba District Court was told Tyler legitimately purchased an item of jewellery from her employer which she later sought an insurance claim on.

“There is no suggestion the insurance claim itself was false,” Crown prosecutor Abby Kong said.

“As a result of that claim, she was given the option of getting a replacement of the item or store credit, she opted for the replacement.”

However, in addition to her replacement piece, Tyler also issued two refunds to herself, amounting $7099 total.

“So in essence, she put through false refunds to herself to dishonestly retain that money,” Ms Kong said.

“It’s the defrauding of an employer, so it is a breach of trust … it’s not like other fraud cases you see where there is repeated conduct over many months or many years but it is nevertheless serious.”

Defence barrister John Davis instructed by MacDonald Law said Tyler had suffered severe loss, resulting in a downward spiral, at the time of her offending.

“In March of 2016 … her husband was involved in a workplace accident and he didn’t come home that day,” Mr Davis told the court.

“She essentially went from being a person in a loving situation surrounded by family to being a single mother who was unable to keep living the life she was living before.

“She immediately turned to supporting her kids … work was a refuge … she threw herself into her work and chose not to deal with any of the emotional trauma that came up for her.”

Following her late husband’s death, the court was told Tyler was a victim of a domestically violent relationship, in which she became reliant on illegal substances.

“At the time of the offending, she was living in a domestically abusive situation, I get the impression she was repressing some fairly serious emotional trauma and she was heavily pregnant at the time; she has obviously made an opportunistically poor choice,” Mr Davis said.

Mr Davis assured the court Tyler had turned over a new leaf, re-entering the workforce with the support and “tough love” of her family.

“This (offending) was the beginning of a fairly long and deep spiral for Ms Tyler,” he said.

“There have been issues, and there have been mistakes and there have been slip ups but she is heading on the right track.”

Tyler was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment with immediate parole.