Court documents state Bakulich swindled grieving families out of about $18,000 altogether, starting with a $3000 charge in 2017 to line a loved one\u2019s casket in zinc. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou gladly pocketed the money. You did not line the casket,\u201d sentencing Judge Evangelos Thomas told Bakulich earlier this year, pointing out that the deceased was instead wrapped in plastic. \u201cThe family\u2019s loved one was buried and no one would have ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the burial site was disturbed by a flood six years later during Cyclone Gabrielle \u201cand your fraud was distressingly revealed for all to see\u201d, Judge Thomas said. <\/p>\n
Another grieving family was targeted in October 2021, when Bakulich \u201ctricked\u201d the victims into paying $7000 extra for what she claimed was a breach of Covid-19 regulations during the funeral. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was all a lie,\u201d Judge Thomas said. \u201cYou gladly pocketed that money as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiona Bakulich pleaded guilty to swindling clients after Cyclone Gabrielle flooding exposed irregularities at Waikumete Cemetery. Photos \/ Michael Craig \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
In September 2022, another family was charged $1150 after Bakulich falsely claimed the body had to be treated for Covid-19. And from August 2022 to January 2024, she targeted seven more families, claiming payments were necessary because the law required her to inject their deceased loved ones with immunisations. <\/p>\n
No such law existed, nor would an immunisation have any effect on a corpse, authorities noted. <\/p>\n
She pleaded guilty to two counts of interfering with a grave or human remains, punishable by up to two years\u2019 imprisonment, and 12 charges of obtaining by deception. She faced up to seven years\u2019 imprisonment for three of the fraud charges involving anounts over $1000. <\/p>\n
Backulich did not attend today\u2019s hearing, which is not unusual when an appelant is incarcerated, but family and supporters filled the courtroom gallery. <\/p>\n
Gray said she had no issue with the district court sentencing judge\u2019s assessment that the offending was extremely serious and that the victims were highly vulnerable. But the judge\u2019s 5% reduction for the defendant\u2019s remorse was inadequate, the lawyer argued. <\/p>\n
And there should have been reductions for mental illness as well, she said. Gray provided to the court a new psychological report suggesting that Bakulich suffers complex post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from childhood trauma with related signs of depression and anxiety. <\/p>\n
Tipene Funerals former undertaker Fiona Bakulich during sentencing at the Auckland District Court.<\/p>\n
Bakulich\u2019s sister provided an affidavit to the court backing up the defendant\u2019s account of growing up in a dysfunctional household marred by domestic violence and a mother who encouraged dishonesty. <\/p>\n
She has started to receive therapy to address the trauma, but it stopped abruptly when she went to prison, Gray said. It could continue immediately if she were to instead receive home detention, she suggested. <\/p>\n
Gray also provided the court with copies of media coverage and social media comments on the case, which she said exacerbated Bakulich\u2019s difficulties in prison. She noted that the Herald, which broke the story prior to charges being laid, has since issued a correction<\/a> regarding the wording of some past reporting. <\/p>\n As for Bakulich\u2019s remorse, Gray noted that a pre-sentence report writer had earlier described her as \u201cdeeply ashamed and genuinely remorseful\u201d. And in the psychological report filed for the appeal, she was also observed as having deep remorse. <\/p>\n Gray noted that her client could also show remorse through restitution. While Bakulich didn\u2019t have money to pay reparations to the victims at the time of sentencing, she now had $4000 available to pay and could make further payments once released and back on her feet, she explained. <\/p>\n Back in April, however, Judge Thomas had said it wasn\u2019t about the money. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat they [the victims] wanted was peace and dignity and respect for their loved ones,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n \u201cTaking their money is not where you caused the harm, and that is what differentiates this case… This offending had deep emotional consequences for people, not financial consequences. They talk about how vulnerable they were.\u201d <\/p>\n There was a distinctive cruelty to \u201crobbing people at their worst time\u201d, the judge said. <\/p>\n \u201cYou looked them so softly in the eye and stabbed them so ruthlessly in the back. That is what really got them. That, you cannot fix. That, money does not fix.\u201d <\/p>\n Crown prosecutor Kasey Nihill said today that the sentencing judge\u2019s assessment wasn\u2019t wrong. In a case involving such prolonged offending and such vulnerable victims, a sentence was needed that reflected deterrence and denunciation, she said. <\/p>\n She noted that Judge Thomas has seen a distinction between true remorse for her victims and shame for having let down her supporters. The judge had also pointed to Bakulich having made a \u201cnumber of excuses\u201d in her pre-sentence interview, the prosecutor pointed out. <\/p>\n Justice Johnstone reserved his decision. <\/p>\nAuckland District Court Judge Evangelos Thomas. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n