Post by Banker on May 20, 2012 5:20:45 GMT 7
THE families of dead children whose identities were stolen by a German con artist, now in a Victorian prison, were not told of the crime by authorities.
The sister of one of the boys said her family was angry and felt the identity theft was a terrible slur on the memory of a child.
The little brother she never knew was one of the children whose identity was stolen by travelling conman Robert Hauke.
Most of the families involved have asked that their surnames not be used.
Last month, Hauke, 49, had his jail sentence for fraud reduced on appeal in Melbourne. Hauke had used the identities of three children to claim more than $70,000 in benefits from Centrelink.
He tried to repeat the con with the identity of a fourth dead child, Leon, but his application for benefits was rejected.
His sentence was reduced to 15 months and Hauke was told he would be released after seven months.
Hauke scoured cemeteries in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, stealing from headstones a series of identities that he could mask as his own.
He then used the names of the children to falsely claim Newstart and education allowances from Centrelink.
Tony Di Labio's brother, Claudio, died from cancer in 1969 when he was eight. Hauke used his identity to claim more than $20,000 from Centrelink.
"It's disturbing to think someone would go to a gravesite and pick a name out for personal gain," Mr Di Labio said.
"It upsets me more than it angers me to know that somebody would even think of doing something like that.
The morals of a person to go to a cemetery and actually steal someone's identity for the purpose of personal gain is pretty low."
Mr Di Labio said his family was not made aware of Hauke's crime and was disappointed the authorities hadn't informed them.
"It would have been nice to have been advised, even in writing, that it had happened," he said.
"Even to that degree would have been sufficient.
"It's not a nice feeling to know that this happened."
Frank was his second victim, a little boy who died on New Year's Eve more than 40 years ago.
His mother, Maria, now in her 80s, recalled it had been Perth's hottest Christmas on record that year and New Year's Eve was shaping up as a scorcher.
A friend suggested a visit to Rockingham beach, about 50 minutes' drive south of Perth, near where the family lived.
"Like it was yesterday," she remembers Frank, a happy six-year-old who was about to start grade one, asking if he could go for a swim with his brother's snorkel.
"I told him that he was too young," Maria said. "One minute he was there next to me, the next he was not and I did not see him any more."
Her memory of that day is clear, her guilt still palpable.
Maria would learn later her youngest child had gone into the water with the snorkel. It happened in a split-second; her little boy had drowned.
"It was many years ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday.
I never got to say goodbye. There is not a day I don't think about him," she said. Frank would have turned 50 in April.
Theodoros also drowned on an outing: a picnic with his family. Family members were shocked someone would steal his identity.
The Department of Human Services said new world-class data-matching technology had helped to snare Hauke.
"It is the sharing of information through all government departments that helps us pick up anomalies," spokesman Hank Jongen said.
www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/con-artist-stole-dead-kids-identities/story-fn6bfkm6-1226361000745
The sister of one of the boys said her family was angry and felt the identity theft was a terrible slur on the memory of a child.
The little brother she never knew was one of the children whose identity was stolen by travelling conman Robert Hauke.
Most of the families involved have asked that their surnames not be used.
Last month, Hauke, 49, had his jail sentence for fraud reduced on appeal in Melbourne. Hauke had used the identities of three children to claim more than $70,000 in benefits from Centrelink.
He tried to repeat the con with the identity of a fourth dead child, Leon, but his application for benefits was rejected.
His sentence was reduced to 15 months and Hauke was told he would be released after seven months.
Hauke scoured cemeteries in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, stealing from headstones a series of identities that he could mask as his own.
He then used the names of the children to falsely claim Newstart and education allowances from Centrelink.
Tony Di Labio's brother, Claudio, died from cancer in 1969 when he was eight. Hauke used his identity to claim more than $20,000 from Centrelink.
"It's disturbing to think someone would go to a gravesite and pick a name out for personal gain," Mr Di Labio said.
"It upsets me more than it angers me to know that somebody would even think of doing something like that.
The morals of a person to go to a cemetery and actually steal someone's identity for the purpose of personal gain is pretty low."
Mr Di Labio said his family was not made aware of Hauke's crime and was disappointed the authorities hadn't informed them.
"It would have been nice to have been advised, even in writing, that it had happened," he said.
"Even to that degree would have been sufficient.
"It's not a nice feeling to know that this happened."
Frank was his second victim, a little boy who died on New Year's Eve more than 40 years ago.
His mother, Maria, now in her 80s, recalled it had been Perth's hottest Christmas on record that year and New Year's Eve was shaping up as a scorcher.
A friend suggested a visit to Rockingham beach, about 50 minutes' drive south of Perth, near where the family lived.
"Like it was yesterday," she remembers Frank, a happy six-year-old who was about to start grade one, asking if he could go for a swim with his brother's snorkel.
"I told him that he was too young," Maria said. "One minute he was there next to me, the next he was not and I did not see him any more."
Her memory of that day is clear, her guilt still palpable.
Maria would learn later her youngest child had gone into the water with the snorkel. It happened in a split-second; her little boy had drowned.
"It was many years ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday.
I never got to say goodbye. There is not a day I don't think about him," she said. Frank would have turned 50 in April.
Theodoros also drowned on an outing: a picnic with his family. Family members were shocked someone would steal his identity.
The Department of Human Services said new world-class data-matching technology had helped to snare Hauke.
"It is the sharing of information through all government departments that helps us pick up anomalies," spokesman Hank Jongen said.
www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/con-artist-stole-dead-kids-identities/story-fn6bfkm6-1226361000745