James Swinton Clifford sentenced for embezzling $88k from remote postal service

A crooked postie in a remote Aboriginal community has been sentenced for embezzling $88k to fuel his gambling addiction. Read what happened in court.

The former general manager of Wadeye post office has been sentenced for embezzling over $88k.

The Darwin Local Court heard James Swinton Clifford, 73, was a pensioner, “hard-worker” and “in it up to [his] eyeballs” in a $130k gambling debt.

Judge Therese Austin warned Clifford “people who gamble usually end up in a lot of trouble” during her sentencing remarks, with his addiction landing him in hot water and home detention.

Judge Austin told the court Clifford had obtained $88,700 from the local post office through 198 nefarious EFTPOS transactions over a period of 11 months from September 2021 to August 2022.

The court heard Clifford would repeatedly deposit money directly to his personal bank account from the post office using the EFTPOS machine.

“Your position was one of authority, you were the general manager, and you took that money,’ Judge Austin said.

“You conducted multiple transactions (198 in total).

Clifford made 198 separate and unlawful EFTPOS transactions to his own account. Picture: Christian Gilles

“It was deliberate, protracted, continuous and you knew what you were doing.

“You stole that money.”

The maximum penalty for Clifford’s crime is seven years imprisonment.

Judge Austin said his offending “warranted serious sanctions”, but did consider Clifford was a first-time offender and had pleaded guilty to his charge of obtaining property by deception.

On Monday the judge sentenced Clifford to 22 months of an intensive community corrections order (ICCO) to be served at his Palmerston residence complete with electric monitoring.

“This is not a slap on the wrist,” Judge Austin said.

The court heard Clifford could not and would not pay back the stolen funds, leading to what the judge described as the “severe sentence”.

Originally published as James Swinton Clifford sentenced for embezzling $88k from remote postal service