A man who admitted accepting financial assistance from the Government while he was working for five months was yesterday ordered to pay more than $11,000 in restitution.

David McCann, 37, was also fined $1,000 when he appeared in Magistrates’ Court.

McCann, who had been on financial assistance since 2012 after surgery prevented him from working, started working in 2017 but continued to file for financial assistance and collected $11,160 over five months, the court heard.

Senior magistrate Juan Wolffe said: “This is a very serious offence – the money in question was designed to help Mr McCann during a time of stress and likely given as a show of good faith.

“Not only did Mr McCann betray that good faith, but the money was earmarked for those who needed it.”

The court heard that in October 2017 the Department of Financial Assistance became suspicious of his employment status documents and launched an investigation.

When the investigation, which concluded in March the following year, revealed that McCann had been working, he was called to the financial assistance department where he admitted the offence and said he used the money to purchase power tools for his business.

He agreed to give back the money, but had only given back $500 before he was called to appear in court.

Archibald Warner, for the defence, said that his client had been offered a job around the time of the offence, but did not admit this to the department because it involved a 90-day probation period that he was unsure he would pass.

He added that McCann started his own business after failing the probation period but did not make much profit because his surgery limited his ability to work.

McCann apologised for the incident and said he kept silent because he was afraid he would lose his home.

Mr Wolffe ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution by the end of the day and to pay the $1,000 fine by April 30.

He also ordered McCann to pay $500 a month for six months starting on March 1 and $750 a month starting on September 1 until the full restitution was paid.

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