Thurgoona woman took $1000 lots of cash out of victim's account over several months

Tania Maree Harrison had been friends with the woman for about eight years, but this did not stop her from stealing her bank card and constantly withdrawing money.

They met through a mutual friend and Harrison began helping her around the house and driving her to and from appointments.

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But Albury Local Court has been told that Harrison, who has form for deception, did not keep the money for herself.

Instead, it was a crime committed out of need not greed, defence lawyer Paul Keane submitted, as Harrison in turned transferred all the money to a man by the name of "Morgan".

It was suggested that this was a pyramid scheme-type arrangement whereby Harrison herself was in some way a victim.

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Harrison previously pleaded guilty, shortly before a hearing was to have been held, to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage or cause disadvantage by deception and larceny.

Magistrate Sally McLaughlin told Mr Keane it was in his client's interests to take instructions on exactly how Harrison found herself in that position and how this in turned influenced her offending.

That did not negate the seriousness of such a large fraud, she said, but provided context relevant to the sentencing exercise.

Harrison, 53, of Thornbill Street, was to have been sentenced this week, but instead the matter was adjourned part-heard to August 23.

She withdrew $79,240 from the victim's St George Bank account over several months, beginning June 6, 2021, all except two involving $1000 amounts.

Harrison kept a spreadsheet of the withdrawals on a USB device, which was seized by police when they arrested her at home on September 8, 2021

Mr Keane said that objectively his client's offending was "serious".

"This is a breach of trust, your honour, that she took from a friend. But she told police she used the money to help a third person."

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