A Kiwi woman who conned a dementia patient out of her home and used the money to travel Europe is being deported from Australia back to New Zealand, despite not having lived here for more than 30 years.
The Courier Mail has reported Francesca Jean Marzella, 63, was convicted of fraud after she befriended an 89-year-old nursing home resident, who she had previously been neighbours with, and got her to sign over her $500,000 Hope Island home.
Marzella sold the home over the internet for around $370,000 and transferred the money to an offshore bank account in London.
She then used the cash to spend a year travelling around Europe, using aliases to cover her identity before being arrested upon return to Australia in 2008.
She was charged with defrauding the elderly dementia patient Marguerite Stewart, who passed away in 2011, and spent three months in remand before fleeing when released on bail.
Eventually Marzella was arrested in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales after living there for five years.
According to the Courier Mail, she was sentenced to five years imprisonment in June 2015, but was released in October after only serving four months due to prison time she'd already served.
After Marzella was released on parole she applied for a bridging visa to stay in Australia -- but was refused due to the fact she'd been convicted of serious fraud.
Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has become well-known across this side of the ditch for his hard-line policies regarding deportation.
He was the politician behind a new set of immigration laws which mean any foreigner who's served a sentence of 12 months or more can be sent home -- regardless of how long they've spent in Australia.
Newshub.
