The wife of a former St George Illawarra Dragons player has learnt her fate in court after she swindled $90,875 from a Shellharbour-based child care business over a period of five years.
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Belinda Jayne Simmonds, the wife of ex-Dragons winger Reece Simmonds, fronted Wollongong Local Court for sentencing on Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
Simmonds, aged 42, entered the pleas weeks after her case was part-heard before the court - with 41 other charges against her since withdrawn.
The mother-of-three's behaviour occurred between 2013 and 2018 and started shortly after she gained employment as a finance manager for the not-for-profit Shellharbour Kiama Family Day Care.
Court documents revealed Simmonds used the childcare centre's company card on a $543 shop at Woolworths in Fairy Meadow, as well as more than $1000 for a set of tyres at Jax Tyres.
In 2014, she also made several purchases totalling to $119 worth of items from Myer at wololongong, $250 worth of items from Target at Erina, and Shellharbour shopping centre gift certificates worth $404.50.
Leading up to Christmas in 2014, Simmonds also spent $750 at Kmart, $600 at Target, and hundreds across Peter Alexander at Shellharbour and Myer at Wollongong, court documents revealed.
Among the purchases included a $2000 spend across surf shops and Sportsgirl, $2000 on three dining chairs and a wharf bench from Freedom Furniture in Warrawong and a new $2556 lounge from Harvey Norman.
Court documents also revealed several transfers of money to her personal accounts that added up to thousands, including payments of $500 to pay off a personal Telstra bill, and a $820 payment to her account made out to 'Payment HD Group HD advertising'.
In June 2018, Simmonds' employer became suspicious of a number of transactions, which led to a police investigation and a search of her Towradgi home where stolen goods were seized.
Police also found texts sent by Simmonds to a friend on June 23, 2018, a few weeks prior to her being fired the following month.
"I still can't believe I was that f---ing stupid," the message read.
"I still cannot believe that person is inside me. I hate her ... Trying to be as normal as I can so I don't drag Reece and the kids any lower."
In court on Wednesday, police prosecutor Sergeant Anna Comer labelled the behaviour as "serious", noting Simmonds was in a position of trust which left the childcare centre significantly out of pocket.
Defence lawyer Matt Ward acknowledged his client's spending was significant and occurred over a lengthy period, however added she had faced no further allegations since her last period of offending in March 2018.
Mr Ward added Simmonds was remorseful and had "excellent" prospects of rehabilitation, adding that media attention surrounding the matter had caused her significant stress.
In explaining the behaviour, Mr Ward said Simmonds was attempting to keep up the impression of a "perfect life" and that the fraud was not sophisticated.
Magistrate Michael O'Brien accepted Simmonds was remorseful for her actions but labelled her conduct as "reprehensible".
"It's extremely disappointing that someone who otherwise had an impeccable record ... had engaged in this conduct over an extensive period," Magistrate O'Brien said.
"That's something you will have to live with, and hopefully will learn from."
Simmonds, who was supported in court by her husband, was handed a two-year intensive corrections order to be served in the community.
She was also ordered to undertake 500 hours of unpaid community service work and pay reparations of $90,000 back to the childcare centre.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
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Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
