29 Oct 2014

Woman sentenced over false birth claim

7:09 pm on 29 October 2014

A Whangarei woman has been sentenced to six-months' home detention for trying to register the birth of a fictitious child.

Teresa Kristina Wilson admitted making a false statement under the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act.

The 22-year-old told the Department of Internal Affairs in December last year that she wanted to register the birth of a daughter she said was born at home in 2011 and raised by a grandparent.

Wilson told an investigator that she needed a birth certificate to claim a sole parent benefit. However, her mother confirmed that Wilson had never been pregnant.

The Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery, said people who make false statements like Wilson's undermine the integrity of official records and risk a prison sentence of up to five years.