A man who gambled more than $64,000 from a fundraiser he organised for the Ballarat family of an alleged murder victim has been sentenced to community service.
Lachlan Morganti, 26, was sentenced to 400 hours of community service in the Ballarat magistrates court on Tuesday, after earlier pleading guilty to the April theft from the online fundraiser.
The court had heard Morganti had launched a GoFundMe page for the family of 23-year-old Hannah McGuire, whose body was found in a burnt out car in Scarsdale, about 25km south of Ballarat, on 5 April.
Her former partner Lachlan Young has pleaded not guilty to murder.
On Tuesday, magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz said that if Morganti had not pleaded guilty, she would have sentenced him to six months in prison.
The maximum sentence for the offending would have been 10 years.
Mykytowycz accepted Morganti – who knew the McGuires through a local cricket club and the family’s pub – started the fundraiser as an altruistic act.
“However, once the money was transferred to your account, the temptation to use this money to recover significant debts from previous losses became overwhelming and self-indulgent to that extent,” Mykytowycz said.
“It was unplanned, unsophisticated, and with the loss of the funds occurring over the space of five days, the impact of your offending cannot be overestimated.”
The magistrate also referred to testimony from McGuire’s mother, Debbie, who said Morganti’s offending had forced her family to relive the details of her case through media coverage.
“She also spoke of your audacity in attending her daughter’s funeral, where you were amongst the very people who had contributed to the GoFundMe, knowing that you had spent the money,” Mykytowycz told the court.
“Your act has infringed on the McGuire family’s ability to grieve in private and with dignity given the unwarranted attention that has flowed from your actions.”
Morganti’s struggles with alcohol abuse and mental health issues were taken into account in sentencing, but any therapeutic conditions of the order would not go towards his community service.
“You will be required to complete each and every one of those 400 hours of community work,” the magistrate said.
“This must be viewed through the lens of the Ballarat community, which has had to deal with the loss of three female members of the community, allegedly by murder, including Hannah in the first six months of this year.”
GoFundMe has refunded all donors to Hannah’s family fundraiser.
Lachlan Young is expected to face the supreme court for a directions hearing on 3 October.
