Highway patrol officer Paul Hunter MacDonald, 46, and his partner and general duties officer Kathryn Maree Goddard, 38 — both from the Port Stephens-Hunter police district — claimed “false and inflated” amounts when they did their 2017 and 2018 tax returns, a court heard.Then to avoid detection, the couple produced a large amount of false documents, after they were queried by the ATO because they had exceeded levels of claims in similar occupations.The court heard Goddard defrauded over $14,000 in the two year period and MacDonald over $12,000.In August last year, the pair were suspended with pay after they were each served with court attendance notices for three counts of dishonestly cause a risk of loss.The charges were laid following an ATO investigation relating to the taxation offences which carry up to five years’ jail.In Newcastle Local Court on Monday, the Commonwealth Director of Public prosecutions (CDPP) argued the offending had a “significant degree of planning” and despite receiving a message from the ATO to review their expenses, they decided to ignore it and claim the amounts anyway.The court also heard Goddard worked as a former accountant and should’ve had knowledge of the falsified claims.The couple’s solicitor made an application relating to the pairs mental health, citing both had a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to their roles in the police force which resulted in “poor judgement”.But that was dismissed by Magistrate Ron Maiden who said after reading medical reports, he couldn’t be satisfied either were suffering from mental illness and that there was a causal link with the offending.That decision led to Goddard and MacDonald both pleading guilty to downgraded charges, which included two counts of receiving financial advantage from a commonwealth entity and one count of producing false or misleading documents.Their solicitor told the court his clients claimed a number of items “what they understood others were claiming for” and their downfall was not coming clean when they had the chance.“They had a lot of opportunities to come clean and back out and they didn’t and then with the audit in 2019, there was panic that set in,” he said.“They could see a risk to their employment as police officers and they responded by providing false documents.”He said despite the mental health application being rejected, it was clear, MacDonald – a former navy officer – and Goddard had been exposed and subjected to “traumatic incidents” in their years on the job which played a role in their offending.“She (Goddard) was not in the right frame of mind at the time, she was emotional, had nightmares,” he added.“These are not incidents ordinary members of the public are exposed to.”The court heard the couple were both on extended sick leave after being suspended from their roles, and had repaid back all the money to the ATO, with neither re-offending.“They’re not going to do their tax returns anymore, they have an agent,” he said.Magistrate Maiden convicted both Goddard and MacDonald, sentencing them to a two year good behaviour bond attached with a $2000 fine each.Each was also imposed with a further $3,000 fine for producing false documents.In a statement last year following the charges, an ATO spokeswoman said they took refund fraud very seriously.“It is not victimless. It steals revenue that is used for the whole community and disadvantages Australians who do the right thing,’’ she said.“We know the overwhelming majority of Australians are honest and where taxpayers make genuine mistakes we will work with them to overcome them.’“If it is deliberate, penalties may apply and we may even seek to prosecute through the courts.”



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