An Australian couple stands accused of faking their six-year-old child’s cancer diagnosis to pilfer over $60,000 from fundraising campaigns, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The couple, whose names have not been made public but are both age 44, were arraigned in Port Adelaide Magistrate Court on the morning of Dec. 13. They were each charged with a single aggravated count of committing an act likely to cause harm, for which they could each receive a maximum of seven years in prison. Each was also slapped with a charge of deception stemming from the allegedly fraudulent fundraisers, which they set up through their child’s school and through an online fundraising campaign.
The allegations against the couple are astonishing. After announcing their son’s fake cancer diagnosis, they shaved the child’s head and and eyebrows in order to deepen the deception. “It will be alleged that the accused shaved their six-year-old child’s head [and] eyebrows and placed them in a wheelchair with bandages to imitate stereotactic radiotherapy treatment,” Acting Assistant Commissioner John Candia said in court on Friday.
Acting Assistant Commissioner John DeCandia added that he “couldn’t think of a more devious and cruel scheme that parents have done to their own child…It’s abhorrent that people would [allegedly] seek to profit for their own personal greed and selfishness from such an insidious condition as cancer which impacts so many families in our community.”
DeCandia continued: “It’s disgusting that these types of cases may…have an impact on people who genuinely need that assistance. It would be terrible for people not to contribute to genuine causes because of a rare case such as this.”
Both parents were ordered held without bail for the moment, in part because of the prosecution’s “valid concern” that the mother might try to meddle in the investigation. However, Magistrate Alison Adair said she would consider a home detainment option for her in the New Year. As far as the father is concerned, Adair implied that he was less involved in the scheme than his wife. His bail option will be revisited when he returns to court on Dec. 20, with a home detainment option also on the table.
“Having read the allegations, it appears this defendant is less involved than the other offender, and in the circumstances, I’m prepared to consider home detention bail,” she said of the father.
Authorities were finally alerted to the matter on Nov. 26 after a joint investigation between the child’s school, Child Protective Services, Australia’s Western District Child and Family Investigation Section, and the Department of Child Protection. The child at the center of the case, as well as his sister who is between six and 12, have been removed from the family home and are under the care of a relative.
“There will be ongoing support needed for the child because initially thinking you’ve got cancer, and you’re not well, would be quite devastating,” DeCandia said.
