* Centrelink, for those who don't know, is the Australian welfare office (aka The Dole).
Lotto nightmare: Relatives clean out dole duo's fortune
By PAUL LAMPATHAKIS
02oct05
A PERTH couple who won nearly $800,000 on Lotto have told how they were left penniless just seven weeks later.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, pregnant mother of five Donna Lynden described how she and partner Allan Taylor were pressured to give away much of their winnings to relatives after buying a house and cars for themselves.She said their money quickly ran out and they continued to illegally claim welfare payments to survive, despite hitting a $793,151.87 Lotto jackpot in June 2003.
"It was a nightmare right away," she said.
"When my partner told my mum we had won Lotto, she was on the phone ringing all of her side of the family.
"Then they were all ringing me up saying things like, `I want 20 grand, I've got bills'.
"And I said, `Look, this is for me and my kids and the first thing I'm doing is buying a house for my kids'."
The couple may now have to sell the house they bought in Endeavour Court, Thornlie, to pay their Centrelink bill.
They pleaded guilty last week to charges related to receiving about $29,000 in payments.
In the kitchen of the four-bedroom home, surrounded by photographs of family members, Ms Lynden told how celebrations after the massive win were short-lived.
Soon after the windfall, the couple bought the house for $310,000, plus a luxury new V8 station wagon and V8 sedan, together worth about $120,000, which they sold last year.
But then they started doling out cash to relatives.
"I gave my mum $50,000, my sister $20,000 and $10,000 to my other sister," Ms Lynden said.
"Allan gave $50,000 to one of his brothers, then $10,000 to another, $15,000 to another and then a bit more and a bit more. He's got 12 brothers and sisters.
"People kept coming around and pestering him for more money.
"I had to get the phone disconnected because it was just ringing all the time. It just got out of hand."
Ms Lynden said the couple could not refuse relatives' cries for help.
"We had to help them out, being an Aboriginal family," she said. "In our culture you've got to help each other out."
But the money ran out in seven weeks and the couple continued collecting Centrelink unemployment payments.
From June 2003 to October 2004, Mr Taylor, 33, who now works as a welder, received $14,247 from Centrelink and Ms Lynden, 35, accepted $14,864.
Ms Lynden has repaid some of the money, but owes about $11,000.
"When we won the money, I said, `We'll both go to Centrelink together to tell them about the money'," Ms Lynden said. "And Allan just left it and kept leaving it, and then we just left it because his side of the family just kept coming back for more money, and he kept giving money out.
"We didn't have money after a while and we needed the Centrelink payments to live because the money only lasted for about seven weeks."
Ms Lynden said a partner of a relative had tipped off Centrelink because of jealousy, landing the couple in court.
She said she did not want to sell the home, the first she had owned, because she wanted to give something to her children, aged between 10 and 16.
Ms Lynden and Mr Taylor will be sentenced in Perth Magistrate's Court next month.
"I just hope Allan doesn't go to jail because him going to jail and me out here with the kids, with a newborn baby, is going to be hard," she said.
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