A childcare worker who ripped off Australian taxpayers to the tune of $88,051 while earning more than $80,000 a year has been jailed for just three months.
Ikraam Mohamud, 31, of Reservoir – north of Melbourne – claimed she was only looking after her family when she blew up to $2000 a day while rorting Australia’s child welfare system.
She was jailed on Wednesday for two years, but will serve just three months before being released on a Commonwealth version of a good behaviour bond.
Ikraam Mohamud, 31, of Reservoir could have been jailed for 10 years after ripping of the government in a welfare scam
Ikraam Mohamud was shielded by supporters as she entered the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday
Bank records seized by police reveal Mohamud would routinely make withdrawals of between $1000-$2000 at a time.
The transactions appeared time and time again on her statements, with $1000 withdrawals appearing days on end.
What she was spending it on remains a mystery.
Before sentencing, County Court of Victoria Judge Richard Smith asked Mohamud why she was wearing a head scarf in the prison dock.
‘Is that a religious requirement?’ he asked.
Mohamud had arrived at court surrounded by supporters who shielded her from a waiting media pack.
The fraudster hid her face with a niqab and wore dark sunglasses on entering the court, but revealed her face upon facing sentence.
Mohamud’s barrister advised Judge Smith his client was a Muslim.
Upon sentencing, Judge Smith said he still had no idea what Mohamud had blown the cash on.
He criticised Mohamud for her behaviour and said she knew what she was doing was wrong.
‘Your offending was deliberate,’ he said. ‘And it went on for four years.’
Crown prosecutor Kathryn Thornton had earlier described Mohamad’s case as ‘one of greed’, not of need.
Judge Smith agreed, declaring that nothing short of an immediate prison term would be appropriate.
But he accepted Mohamud had pleaded guilty to the crime early, had co-operated with police and displayed remorse by entering a payment plan to repay her huge debt.
That plan will see Mohamud pay $15 a fortnight until the debt is repaid.
‘That will take many, many years to repay,’ Judge Smith acknowledged.
Until now, Mohamud hasn’t repaid a cent.
The court heard when Mohamud was nabbed by police she cried poor and claimed she was worried about not having a roof over her head.
Mohamud knew she was doing wrong, but the $710 payments each fortnight was good coin on top of her daycare money.
It was only a matter of time until Centrelink caught up with her.
Ikraam Mohamud makes a phone call outside the County Court of Victoria at an earlier hearing. She had just days to organise her life before she was sent to jail
Ikraam Mohamud quit her job as a childcare worker so she could continue to claim child welfare payments
When they finally did, Mohamud quit her job so she could continue getting welfare payments.
The court heard Mohamud worked for seven childcare centres between September 2012 and June 2017.
But they all treated her shabbily, she complained.
One place even made her clean up children’s vomit.
When she wasn’t working and blowing cash, Mohamud was sitting back and collecting child care benefits for being a single mum with a child under 8.
The Somalian born refugee had married a man in Kenya in 2008 and quickly got pregnant.
She returned to Australia alone and he joined her in 2010 when he got his visa sorted.
Mohamud dumped him shortly after and had another baby to a different man whom she also broke up with.
The fraudster had had a rough life up until then.
After fleeing war torn Somalia as an eight year old, she was bullied throughout her school life in Melbourne.
Both of the men in her life had bullied her too.
Ikraam Mohamud was collecting Centrelink child benefits she was not entitled to. She was warned multiple times not to rip of the taxpayer, but she ignored that advice
Ikraam Mohamud, 31, of Reservoir was withdrawing $1000 a day and blowing it. She claimed it was for her family, but police reckon it was probably on herself
Mohamud pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to one charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.
At a pre-sentence hearing, her barrister Gregory Buchhorn said his client – who is pregnant again – was ‘deeply ashamed’ of her behaviour and that her large family were unaware of what she had been up to.
Mohamud showed no emotion as she was taken away to jail.