Smith obtained over $200,000 through false claims to her family and associates, including that she needed money for treatment of ovarian cancer and cancer of the lymph nodes, as well as for her son to undergo an urgent operation for a heart condition. She also claimed her bank account had been hacked and her accounts frozen pending the outcome of an investigation by ASIC. She claimed that she would repay her victims with money she was expecting to receive from a victim's of crime payout of more than $1 million, purportedly compensation for psychological issues Smith suffered from being a witness to an armed robbery.
The ABC reports that Evans CJ said a psychiatric assessment of Smith found she became "Walter Mitty-ish" in a naive and foolish attempt to be liked and accepted.
Your offending was elaborate and yet unsophisticated and was persistent over a long period of timeYou lied for your own financial advantage and also in attempt to be liked and accepted. "You created a fanciful world that gave you empowerment, however you were unable to control it. Your actions did not reflect any level of sophistication that would be characteristic of typical fraudulent behaviour. ... Your victims suffered significant financial losses — these losses resulted from some of them lending money to you, some purchasing property based on your promises to provide gifts that would cover the purchaseThree of Smith's childhood friends and her stepmother-in-law were each conned out of between $12,000 and $100,000 .
The ABC reports that during a pre-sentencing hearing, Smith read a letter of apology to the court and her victims. Evans CJ said he struggled to accept that she was genuinely remorseful given the lateness of her guilty pleas, the lack of any prior apology or show of remorse and her failure to explain what she had down with the money.
