Chrystal Leah Dervish, 34, appeared by videolink in Tweed Heads Local Court on November 25 to plead guilty to three charges including possessing and dealing with identity information to commit an indictable offence and having goods suspected of being stolen on her premises.

During a search warrant for her housemate on a separate issue, Dervish was found with 51 tax return documents belonging to 51 people on July 8.

Other identity documents found included loan applications, Centrelink documents, credit cards and driver’s licences in her Banora Point home.

Printed copies of the documents, a large number of which had Broadbeach’s Synergy Hotel booking references on them, were found in a Woolworths bag in Dervish’s bedroom.

Others were found in two laptop bags in the house and in the courtyard’s shed.

A USB with digital copies of the identity documents was found on the kitchen table and was found to have been accessed by Dervish’s computer.

Dervish told police she thought the USB contained music and had put it in her laptop to download the songs and discovered the documents.

The police facts say all the documents would satisfy a 100-point identity check.

Police also found a stolen solicitor’s signature stamp in the house.

Dervish was on parole in Queensland at the time of the offence.

Defence solicitor Anthony Parsons said the mother-of-three got the USB from a van that her daughter took for a joy ride and crashed after the van had been left at Dervish’s house.

He said Dervish did not use the documents to make fraudulent purchases but brought them into the house knowing a co-accused man allegedly would.

The court heard Dervish had been in custody for the past six months.

Magistrate Michael Dakin said the sentencing assessment report identified Dervish had “significant difficulty” with an illicit substance and her extensive criminal history was against her.

Mr Dakin convicted and sentenced Dervish to a head sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 months.

She will be eligible for parole on July 7, 2021.



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