A NSW woman who co-founded a charity that claimed to sell bricks to establish a memorial at the Pozieres battlefield in France, yet used the money for her personal use, has avoided a prison term for her scam.
Yvonne Mary Hall, 69, was ordered to serve a 16-month intensive corrections order by a magistrate at Coffs Harbour Local Court on Monday.
The Coffs Harbour woman had earlier entered guilty pleas to two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and one charge of using a false document to influence exercise of public duty.
The Pozieres Remembrance Association, co-founded by Hall and which she acted as the secretary of, claims to have sold more than 4200 bricks for $50 each.
Rather than use the funds raised to honour the 6800 Anzacs who were killed or died of wounds from the battles at the French village in the First World War, Hall used approximately $140,000 of the money raised for her own personal living expenses.
In passing down the sentence, magistrate Ian Rodgers recognised that all but $8052 of the money taken had been repaid by Hall.
Mr Rodgers ordered that along with the corrections order, the remainder of the money owed be repaid.
