Wife Of 'society Murderer' Avoids Jail On Ring Theft
The Age
Wednesday February 21, 2007
MARITZA Wales, the wife of "society murders" killer Matthew Wales, has received a suspended jail sentence for stealing an $8000 diamond ring from the change rooms of a Kew swimming pool and pawning it for cash.
The 43-year-old mother-of-one pleaded guilty to one count of theft and another of obtaining property by deception at the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday. The court was told that Ms Wales - who reverted back to her maiden name of Pizarro for her court appearance - found the 18-carat rose gold engagement ring on the change-room floor at the Kew Recreation Centre on July 15 last year.Hours later, she pawned the three-stoned diamond ring at a Cash Converters store in Smith Street, Collingwood, for $400. The ring's owner found it in the store a week later after conducting her own investigation, and alerted police, who traced the paperwork back to Ms Wales.Paul Galbally, for Ms Wales, told magistrate Angela Bolger that his client was remorseful and ashamed of her actions. He said it was a case of "theft by finding", which should be viewed as spontaneous and opportunistic, rather than calculated or planned."She saw it, she made a split-second decision and that split-second decision was wrong and has had serious consequences for her," he said. But Ms Bolger described the act as "remarkably foolish" before sentencing Ms Wales to six weeks' jail, suspended for 12 months, and ordering her to repay Cash Converters $400. She said Ms Wales - who received a two-year suspended jail sentence for perverting the course of justice by making a false statement to police about the disappearance of her parents-in-law - had a history of dishonesty and warned her not to reoffend. "If you commit an offence in the next 12 months you could well go to jail for at least six weeks," she said. Matthew Wales, 39, is serving a 30-year jail sentence, with a 24-year minimum, for murdering his mother, Margaret Wales-King, 68, and stepfather, Paul King, 75, in 2002.The former Glen Iris hairdresser pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in 2003 during a dramatic court case that mesmerised Melbourne and later became the subject of a successful book and telemovie, both of which labelled the killings The Society Murders.
© 2007 The Age