A woman was inspired by a movie to fake her own death for an insurance payout, the District Court in Perth has been told.
The court heard Karen Salkilld received more than $718,000 from an insurance company after claiming she had died in a car accident in Broome.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to gaining benefit by fraud and knowingly using a false record to defraud.
Prosecutor Emily Roberts described the crime as “planned and relatively sophisticated”, and said it was not “victimless” and involved a bank, an insurance company, police who certified documents and her former partner.
The court heard Salkilld had provided a death certificate, funeral documentation and a letter from the coroner’s court to the company Insuranceline, claiming she had died in December 2023.
She made the application in late January, and the funds were paid on February 14.
Alarm bells over ‘heavily altered’ documents
She opened a MyState account in her former partner’s name, as she was the beneficiary, but there was no evidence the woman knew of the crime.
Salkilld had been in a relationship with the woman for several years, and while they separated three years ago, were still friends.
She had access to the woman’s ID documents, who she had previously travelled overseas with.
Salkilld superimposed her own face on the woman’s drivers licence and passport as forms of ID, and also set up an email account.
She started transferring the funds to creditors, and herself, but MyState Bank froze the new account under suspicion.
Salkilld went to Palmyra police station several times to get identification verified so she could free up the funds.
But the “heavily altered” documents ultimately did not get past the bank’s verification process.
Salkilld was arrested after she went to the police station in early March, purporting to be her former partner.
Fraud a ‘crazy act’
Her lawyer, Max Crispe, said the “crazy act” of faking her death came to her from a movie she had once seen, but did not specify which one.
He described how his client had lived in Broome for many years, employed by an Aboriginal corporation and also working in fitness with her then partner.
Mr Crispe said after the man died in 2018, Salkilld received a life insurance payment from his death of $500,000.
She continued working as a fitness trainer after moving to Perth, and had an F45 franchise, but accrued various large debts.
‘It’s all unravelled’
Mr Crispe said his client was “single-minded in the fraud process” but had penalised herself because she was going to be deprived of contact with her children.
He told the court she was arrested after she went to the police station trying to unblock the funds.
“It’s all unravelled,” he said.
But when he described the crime as the result of a “brain snap”, Judge Vicki Stewart said it was “a calculated deception”.
“This wasn’t a one-off … Salkilld was “living beyond her means,” she said
“I don’t think opportunistic is the right word.”
“She tried to get three-quarters of a million dollars from an insurance company … seemed to be motivated by greed.”
She told Salkilld, who was in custody, to expect an immediate prison term when sentenced later this month.
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