Jail for woman who demanded $300k after digging up bookie's backyard
A trio travelled from interstate to dig up a Melbourne backyard for suspected hidden cash before trying to extort $300,000 from the owner, a court has heard.
The victim and his family were so terrified, they were forced to flee their own home for a week, the County Court heard on Thursday.
Stacey Brooking, 33, was jailed for one year and eight months, with a minimum of 10 months, after pleading guilty to blackmail over the "terrifying" scheme.
Brooking and another man and woman travelled from Queensland to Melbourne in April last year with the aim of digging up their victim's backyard.
The female co-offender knew the victim, a bookmaker, from years earlier and believed he had cash stashed there.
Brooking kept a lookout as her co-offenders entered the man's backyard but when they failed to find the money, the trio hatched an "extraordinarily brazen scheme" to blackmail him.
Brooking and her male co-accused then turned up at his home, pretending to be private investigators and debt collectors with Racing Victoria.
They falsely claimed he was laundering money and had it buried in the backyard.
When the victim left to call police, the trio threatened him with menacing calls that he pay $300,000 or he would be jailed, and his family and livelihood threatened.
In the final call, he was told: "Do what I ask or I'm pointing these guns in your direction. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Judge Frances Hogan said the plot was unsophisticated, with the accused using their own phones and captured on CCTV footage at their victim's home.
But it still left the victim and his family so scared, they moved to a hotel for a week and he was unable to go to work.
"It was indeed brazen and intimidating conduct and has left a lasting legacy of fear and insecurity with your victim and his family," the judge said.
Brooking, a New Zealand woman and long-time drug addict, had a disadvantaged upbringing with no significant job history, the judge said.
She said while the offending was serious she gave her credit for admitting her role and co-operating with prosecutors.
AAP
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