Kim Heptinstall died in July 2019,two days after she had been released from hospital after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery. The 32-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest.
Just six hours later,Heptinstall’s “on/off” boyfriend logged into her phone and into her superannuation app to change her beneficiary details and direct hundreds of thousands of dollars his way.
Travis Barnard,32,denied the allegations but state prosecutors told a jury last week he pretended to be Heptinstall when he changed the name of the beneficiary of the fund,which “he knew he had no right to do”.
Heptinstall’s mother told the court last week her daughter’s relationship with Barnard was “on/off”.
Her brother also gave evidence,telling the court he contacted Barnard on multiple occasions to access his sister’s phone for photos for her funeral,but Barnard responded that he “wasn’t finished with it yet”.
A family friend retrieved the phone before going through its contents and finding apps and photos missing. They sent it to technology experts over east before contacting police.
A jury took less than an hour on Monday to reach a guilty verdict on the single charge of using a telecommunications network to commit fraud.
Barnard was remanded in custody. He will be sentenced in June.
With9News Perth
Read more
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..