Judge takes new shot at rise of poker machines

Australia -- A JUDGE has likened gambling on the pokies to ripping up your money and throwing it in a river

Judge Roland Williams said there was no justification for a civilised society to approve gaming machines.

"I feel the phenomenon of poker machines in this state is an undesirable situation," he said.

"I don't see any real civilised justification for it other than a means of indirectly taxing the people who are too stupid to work out what they are doing."

Judge Williams made the comments during a plea hearing for gambling addict Marlene Patricia Jack.

It is not the first time the judge has lashed out at poker machines while hearing cases involving gambling addicts.

In 2001, he said it was "absolutely astounding" that successive governments allowed the rise of problem gambling.

Last year, he condemned the widespread availability of poker machines to "witless" members of the public.

The County Court heard yesterday Jack, 54, stole from the Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park, where she had worked as a payroll officer for 29 years.

Prosecutor Michael Hannan said Jack stole $95,126 in 127 transactions between August 2003 and June 2005.

Mr Hannan said Jack claimed employees on annual leave had not received their entitlements and asked the accountant to rush through their pay slips. She would then direct the money into her own bank accounts.

The court heard Jack confessed to her boss and resigned in July 2005.

Jack, of Broadmeadows, pleaded guilty to three counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

Defence lawyer Brendan Wilkinson said his client had repaid $53,000 and was committed to a plan to pay back the rest.

Jack told Judge Williams she exhausted all her savings and racked up $26,000 in debt on her credit card before she began taking from her employer.

"In the end I just virtually became addicted," she said.

"When I got there it was just like . . . greeting friends.

"You could just be by yourself if you wanted to and you didn't have to account to anybody. It was just you in your own little world."

Jack, who lives with her parents, said she often reflected on her losses but could not stop.

She admitted that despite extensive counselling she lapsed about a month ago and lost $20 at the pokies.

"I have let myself down," she said.

Mr Wilkinson said Jack should not be jailed, saying she was remorseful and had written a letter of apology.

But Mr Hannan said jail was appropriate, and Jack's relapse put her efforts at rehabilitation in some doubt.

Judge Williams bailed Jack for sentencing today.

News Added: 06 December, 2007

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