A funeral director has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail, with three years non-parole, for faking the deaths of clients in order to claim insurance payouts.
Adelaide funeral director Robin George Knight was found to have misappropriated over $700,000 from 196 clients from 2003 – 2013, according to an ABC News report.
Mr Knight made claims that his clients had passed away and that he had used their funeral money for business-related bills and costs.
Mr Knight faced almost 200 charges concerning his time running the now shut Knight Funeral Homes, also known as Knight Brenton James Funeral Directors.
Mr Knight represented himself in court and told Magistrate Cathy Deland that he was full of regret regarding his decisions.
“It is a daily struggle to live with the consequences of my actions, particularly how a number of people have been let down and left with a severe disadvantage,” Mr Knight said.
“I deeply regret my actions and apologise to everybody concerned.”
The Magistrate, while noting that Knight had not used the money to fund “a luxurious lifestyle” and had instead used it to keeping his business alive, nevertheless said “the offending amounts to a breach of trust.”
“I doubt the people who have lost their money are particularly interested in what happened to it, they have suffered regardless,” the Magistrate said.