QLD: Judge right not to jail Aboriginal woman: appeal court

AAP General News (Australia)
08-06-1999
QLD: Judge right not to jail Aboriginal woman: appeal court

By Suzanne Klotz

BRISBANE, Aug 6 AAP - A judge's decision not to jail an Aboriginal woman who gave her
friends more than $30,000 belonging to a bank was today upheld by the Queensland Court of
Appeal.

Although counsel for the Attorney-General argued a caucasian woman in a similar situation
would get two or three years jail, the Court of Appeal found there were special circumstances
in the case which justified the decision.

These included the cultural pressure placed on the woman, her lack of training and
supervision, her guilty plea and remorse, her lack of criminal convictions and the fact that
she was solely responsible for three children, including a newborn baby.

But the court warned it should not be taken as a precedent and ordered the judgment reasons
be circulated in Aboriginal communities.

Maryanne Marilyn Mara had pleaded guilty to four counts of misappropriation between July
1995 and March 1998 and was sentenced to two years' jail, wholly suspended for three years.

She was a member of the far north Queensland Injinoo Aboriginal community and was employed
to run the Commonwealth Bank agency from 1995.

She was given minimal training and was responsible for all book keeping and money
management.

There was also no auditing procedure in place.

Mara misused $34,476, spending some of it on her own bills, but also giving money to others
in the community whenever they said they needed it.

"It was accepted by the prosecution that the respondent had been subjected to cultural
pressure to distribute the money when asked," wrote Court of Appeal President Margaret McMurdo
and Justice James Thomas.

"The money under her control seems to have been regarded by members of the community as the
council's money."

The Injinoo Community Council had virtually insured the bank against loss and all the
stolen money had been reimbursed.

Evidence was given during the sentencing hearing that many people in very high positions in
Aboriginal communities were not properly qualified.

A community representative also testified that a jail sentence would be "devastating" for
Mara, who had not appreciated the seriousness of what she was doing, and was shocked when she
was charged.

Counsel for the Attorney General, who challenged the sentence, said the lower end of the
range for a caucasian female in similar circumstances would be two to three years jail with
some months actually served, The Court of Appeal found there were special circumstances in
Mara's case which justified the full suspension of the sentence.

It noted that the outcome in Mara's case should not be regarded as a likely one in future
cases and ordered that the judgment reasons be distributed to Aboriginal communities and the
likelihood of imprisonment for such dishonesty offences stressed.

AAP smk/arb

KEYWORD: MARA

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