Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty to $2.8m Farming Family Fraud

A 53-year-old bookkeeper has pleaded guilty to stealing $2.8 million from a Far North Queensland farming family over six years, using her trusted position to fund a lavish lifestyle.

The Johnston family of Tully, south of Cairns, had employed Michelle Kathleen Lawson as their bookkeeper and considered her a friend. However, the District Court in Cairns heard that Lawson used her position to make payments to her own bank account and those of her husband and son, hiding payments under the names of false employees.

Lawson pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud, spanning a six-year period. The court heard she spent the money on horses, cars, holidays, property, her own business, and extra tuition for her children.

The Johnstons, who had invited Lawson to their weddings and congratulated her on buying a clothing boutique with her sisters, were devastated by her crimes. In a victim impact statement, Jill Johnston, 81, recounted how she thought a family meeting at her home in June 2023 was to sign papers for a succession plan, but was instead told about Lawson's fraud.

"It has felt in many ways like a death," Mrs Johnston's statement said. "I carry a deep sense of guilt that I did not detect the fraud."

The court heard Lawson wanted to return to work soon after her son's birth, so Mrs Johnston arranged for a cot to be placed in the business's air-conditioned office. Lawson also declined an offer to have someone cover her while she took her daughter on the horse show circuit, the court heard.

"She insisted she would keep doing the wages herself because she did not want to have to fix someone else's mistake," Mrs Johnston said in her statement. "I now understand why she did not want anyone else looking at her work."

Mrs Johnston's children also made statements outlining how Lawson's betrayal had generational consequences. The court heard Lawson cost the family the chance to employ more staff, pay for machinery and chemicals outright, and stymied plans to buy a neighbouring property.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow as I view that farm every day on my way to work," Paul Johnston's statement said.

The court heard the Johnstons managed to recover almost $1.5 million through civil action, but the legal fees and forensic accounting to do so cost about $500,000. Defence counsel Kelly Goodwin told the court Lawson had a "traumatic" upbringing marked by domestic violence, alcohol abuse and the death of her father.

Lawson appeared at her plea hearing on a video link from the Townsville Women's Correctional Centre, where she has been remanded for more than two years since voluntarily having her bail revoked. Judge Joshua Treviño KC is due to sentence Lawson on Wednesday.