Woman steals $41k from grandma

Four sisters have been torn apart after their niece moved in with their 92-yearold mother and stole her money.

In offending described by a judge as ‘‘really wicked’’, Zarnia Wilson fleeced her grandmother of $41,366 last year, cash which included proceeds from the sale of the elderly woman’s house.

The problems started when Wilson returned home from Australia at the beginning of last year and moved in with her grandmother at her home in Waitara.

According to two of the victim’s daughters, Brenda Knuckey, 73, and Adele Crofskey, 70, Wilson took over as power of attorney, seized control of their mother’s bank account and sold her house and belongings.

The devastated siblings said the victim now lived in a rest home, which broke their hearts.

‘‘She’s fading away quite fast worrying about things, it’s not good,’’ Knuckey said.

Yesterday, the court heard how Wilson returned from Australia to live with her grandmother in January 2021.

Between February and March, she helped change her grandmother’s will, and took over the role of holding the enduring power of attorney order, which was formerly held by Crofskey.

This was done using a lawyer based outside Taranaki, which Judge Tony Greig said was a ‘‘deliberate’’ move, and part of Wilson’s plan.

After $269,000 was transferred into Wilson’s grandmother’s account in June 2021, after the house sale, the defendant transferred $162,500 into the victim’s cheque account.

Wilson later admitted to using $41,366 which in no way benefited her grandmother.

This included a $5366 deposit into her Australian bank account and four withdrawals between August 26 and November 1 totalling $36,000.

As things unfolded, Wilson trespassed her two aunts from their mother’s house and the aunts’ relationship with their other two sisters fractured under the stress of what was going, and because of misunderstandings that occurred along the way.

And the situation has torn their family apart.

Like Knuckey, Crofskey too had trouble sleeping.

‘‘You wake up crying in the night. You don’t eat the same. I lost a lot of weight. And nearly every day Zarnia comes into your conversation. You know, it just, it just ruins your family.’’

When Wilson first moved in with her grandmother, Knuckey said she felt very uncomfortable visiting.

‘‘Don’t know what it was, but I felt unwelcome.’’

Then she said she was trespassed. ‘‘Then one day I saw some of Mum’s stuff on buy and sell on my iPad. I went over and asked [Wilson] ‘ why she was selling Mum’s stuff?’. She said ‘it’s got nothing to do with you. It’s none of your business’.’’

They went to the Family Court but were advised it was a police matter.

‘‘I want to see her go to jail for five to eight years at least,’’ Crofskey said.

However, after an early guilty plea to theft by a person in a special relationship and having no previous convictions, Wilson was sentenced to nine months’ home detention.

For Knuckey and Crofskey, the sentence was unacceptable. They hoped Wilson would go to jail for what she did to their mother, and the rest of the family.

The siblings said Wilson was their mother’s ‘‘favourite grandchild’’.

‘‘And this is the way she’s repaid her,’’ Crofskey said.

Defence lawyer Nathan Bourke said Wilson wanted to pay the money back, but any electronically monitored sentence would impact on her ability to work.

Her offer was to pay $20 per week, which would take about 40 years to clear the debt.

Judge Greig said he understood Wilson planned to return to Australia at some stage, and would be ‘‘surprised’’ if she kept up with payments. No reparation was ordered. After her sentencing, Wilson, who cried during most of the hearing, told Knuckey and Crofskey that she ‘‘still loved them both’’.