Makeup artist who scammed $65K fights to stay out of jail, arguing she had psychiatric condition

A makeup artist has faced Tasmania’s top Supreme Court judge in a bid to stay out of jail over a $65,000 fraud.

Amber Wilson

@ambervwilson

2 min read

September 3, 2021 - 3:16PM

Police & Courts

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Make-up artist and convicted fraudster Olivia Rodgers faces top judge ahead of jail appeal battle

A WELL-known makeup artist trying to avoid a two-month jail term for defrauding her employer of $65,000 says her crimes were committed in the context of suffering body dysmorphic disorder.

In July this year, 32-year-old Olivia Rose Rodgers was given a nine-month jail sentence – with seven months suspended – and fined more than $1300 after pleading guilty to 62 counts of dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage from health insurance company Bupa.

Appealing the sentence immediately, Rodgers has not yet spent a day in prison.

On Friday, she appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania before Chief Justice Alan Blow to make her case.

Barrister Fabiano Cangelosi said Rodgers’s crimes were committed while she suffered a psychiatric condition.

“It was noted the kind of behaviour she engaged in, in taking money and spending it on what I might describe as non-essential items, was in the context of her dealing with a body dysmorphic disorder,” he said.

Court appearance fo rmakeup artists on huge fraud charges

The Hobart Magistrates Court previously heard the Moonah beautician used the money to fund her “lavish lifestyle of excessive spending and living beyond her means”, including an overseas trip to Bali and thousands of dollars each month on living expenses and personal shopping.

Mr Cangelosi said the sentencing magistrate failed to give adequate weight to the fact Rodgers had already fully repaid the money she took.

He also argued she’d entered an early plea of guilty, and had to undergo significant delays while waiting for her case to finalise.

But the lawyer argued the “heart” of her case was that a prison term represented “manifest excess”.

“The court does not impose immediate custodial terms when it does not have to,” Mr Cangelosi argued.

“Why on Earth would a home detention order not be an appropriate sentence?”

Chief Justice Blow will deliver his decision on September 13.

According to the Australian Department of Health, body dysmorphic disorder is a common mental illness that leads people to become fixated on parts of their bodies and how they appear to other people.

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