The agency that provides Defence Force members with housing assistance did "very little" to prevent a former Australian Army major from defrauding it of nearly $92,000, the offender's lawyer has argued.
Travis David Morgan Stephens, who was enlisted as a soldier in the Australian Army in 2000, rose to the rank of major in 2017 before being administratively discharged two years later.
The offender fronted the ACT Supreme Court on Friday for sentencing after pleading guilty to charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception and dishonestly causing a loss to the Department of Defence.
The latter involved causing a $4406.45 loss to the Commonwealth department by falsely claiming he had been evicted from his previous place so it would pay for his relocation, agreed facts tendered to the court stated.
Stephens' offending spanned nearly seven years, starting in 2011 when he and his mother, Ilze, jointly bought a unit in Kingston.
They obtained the finance for it on the condition both their names appeared on the mortgage and property title.
He falsely represented that he had been evicted from his previous home, claiming he was entitled to relocation assistance because its owner intended to occupy it.
As a result, the Department of Defence paid for his relocation when he was not entitled to the assistance under the eviction provision.
Between August 2011 and about April 2018, Stephens claimed rent assistance payments for the unit he jointly owned and dishonestly received $91,705.54 during that period.
On Friday, Stephens' barrister Mark Dennis SC said while he did not want to or be seen blaming Defence Housing Australia, "there seems to be very little if anything in terms of risk management protocols to prevent this type of offending".
"A simple title search would have revealed he was a co-owner," Mr Dennis said.
He said no rental bond was lodged in this "series of sham transactions" and it would have "taken little for Defence Housing to check" the rental arrangement.
"It seems nothing was done," Mr Dennis said.
The defence barrister also tendered evidence showing his client had paid the full amount back.
He said while there was "no stepping away" from the amount taken, the objective seriousness of the offending was "exceptionally unsophisticated" as Stephens used his work email and was not in a "special position of trust".
"I can see the offending behaviour occurring over a number of years is relevant [to sentencing]," Mr Dennis said.
He asked Justice David Mossop for an adjournment to allow his client to undergo further medical examinations after a psychological report made them aware "of the possibility of a traumatic brain injury" earlier in May.
"I say it's very important ... there's a greater risk of sentencing proceedings may miscarry without this," Mr Dennis said.
Prosecutor Marcus Hassall criticised the shift in onus to prevent such offending.
"The system is based on trust and underlying the submission [by Mr Dennis] is what appears to an assertion that more time and money should've been spent by those administrating the scheme on basically checking every claim for fraud," Mr Hassall said.
He said this increase in resources would have meant more public money being diverted from other areas.
"There was such unambiguous evidence in relation to the second offence [rental assistance]," Mr Hassall said.
"Mr Stephens knew exactly what he was doing and exactly the significance of the fact that he was an owner."
The prosecutor referred to an email between Stephens and his mother, which read: "We're the ones holding all the cards, I'm sure it'll be all good."
Mr Hassall said the repayments made included an initial forced amount of about $40,000 - "then nothing until today".
He said land title searches, which were tendered, showed Stephens bought an investment property in Queensland in 2019, presumably in preference to repaying the debt.
"We accept the money's been fully repaid, but we dispute any conclusion that that's evidence of contrition," Mr Hassall said.
In relation to the positive character references tendered, Mr Hassall said while Stephens' character should not be reduced to nothing, there was a "disconnect between the assertion of faultless integrity" and other positive attributes and the agreed facts.
Kyle Tyrrell, who served 24 years in the army, gave evidence via phone about Stephens' character and during cross examination said: "I saw that he agreed [to the facts] and I accept that."
However, he disagreed with the notion Stephens could no longer be described as having what he described as "faultless integrity" because his observations of Stephens were based on an 18-year period rather than from only the court proceedings.
Psychologist Tabitha Frew also gave evidence about some of Stephens' mental health conditions, including ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.
The case returns to court on June 2 for a procedural hearing.
