Money can’t get bail for accused ‘spiritual’ fraudster
Miklos Bolza |
A “spiritual cleanser” who allegedly left a trail of defrauded victims in her wake has been denied bail once more despite offering more money as security.
Maria Williams has been described as “unscrupulous and predatory” in court documents after allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims of her “psychic” services.
The 49-year-old, her husband Larry Williams, 50, and sister Tina Montana, 48, have been arrested and charged over the scheme.
Clients would offer envelopes of cash to be “blessed” or remove curses.
While smaller initial amounts would be returned to build trust, the alleged fraudsters would ask for more and more cash eventually disappearing with the money, court documents say.
Maria Williams was first denied bail in the NSW Supreme Court in February.
She made a second bid for freedom on Friday which was shot down by Justice Julia Lonergan.
This was despite claims by defence lawyer Feddy Kak that an increase in surety from $10,000 to $50,000 and further delays in her case warranted bail.
Justice Lonergan found nothing significant had changed since February and there was no reason to grant bail this time.
Three arrest warrants have been put out for other members of the family who have fled overseas, court documents say.
A “hidden camera undercover sting” by current affairs program Today Tonight in 2005 showed the 49-year-old and her mother-in-law soliciting funds to be blessed.
Williams left the country soon after that report, only to return in 2013, court documents reveal.
She is accused of defrauding around $420,000 from three clients going back to 2003 and using a fake name to rent a property in Sydney’s southwest before absconding without paying.
One alleged victim was told funds from selling her home would have to be cleansed before using it to repay family and friends to prevent transferring “bad spirits”.
With no job and relying solely on defrauded funds to survive, Williams used multiple aliases and was arrested at Sydney International Airport in August with a one-way ticket to the United Kingdom, court documents allege.
She is accused of stealing funds from victims in Victoria before fleeing with her husband to Queensland and then moving to Sydney where they were both arrested.
“All of the conduct is unscrupulous and predatory on individuals who are vulnerable,” crown prosecutors submitted while opposing bail in February.
Deeds of release were often used to give alleged victims a belief they would get their money returned to prevent them going to police, prosecutors allege.
Williams has not made pleas to one count of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, one count of obtaining money or valuables by deception and two counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
She has previously been convicted and sentenced to a two-year community corrections order for defrauding another victim of over $41,000 in 2018.
In that case, she advertised herself as a “master psychic”.
“Specialising in tarot card readings, remover of all evilness, palm and numerology reading, superior spiritual healer and advisor,” a brochure put into the victim’s mailbox read.
She will be back in court with her husband on July 30.
AAP
