Face of Nation : Cancer fraudster Belle Gibson has shed tears in the Federal Court witness box while being questioned about her finances and inability to pay a A$410,000 (NZ$430,200) fine.
Gibson returned to court on Thursday so her finances could be examined, after she claimed she didn’t have the capacity to pay the fine imposed on her by a judge in 2017 for duping Australians by claiming she cured herself of brain cancer through her diet.
On a grey and overcast day, Gibson arrived at court behind her lawyers, wearing a black overcoat, black heels and dark sunglasses and refused to speak to waiting media. She wore eyeglasses in court.
Lawyers for Consumer Affairs Victoria have been given permission to scour her financial records, and on Thursday she was asked about a series of deposits made into her accounts through Airtasker.Gibson told the court she was paid for caring for an elderly woman named Claire in an arrangement organised by the woman’s daughter, and told the court the agreement was of “a personal nature and it’s not something I want to be discussing”.
When asked if Claire had died, Gibson said no, but then took off her glasses and began crying.
“You can see what I mean about my empathetic nature,” said Gibson, who previously told the court she had been paid for caring for Claire, as well as being reimbursed for running shopping errands for other acquaintances.
“I care about these people, whether it’s personal or employment.”
Later, Gibson was asked about a 2017 holiday she took to Bali with her son, a trip she said she took “to take leave from my situation in Melbourne”.
During the trip, the court heard, three deposits totalling A$1600 (NZ$1679) were paid into her bank account, but Gibson couldn’t explain who made the payments or what they were for.
Carl Moller, the barrister for Consumer Affairs Victoria, asked her: “Is it seriously your evidence that $1600 was deposited into your account, in three deposits in the space of about a week, and you don’t know who deposited it?”
Gibson replied: “I would have to speculate and I am not willing to do that.”
Gibson then began crying and the court was adjourned to give her a break.
The fake wellness guru was fined in 2017 for breaching consumer laws by misleading and deceiving people, after she accumulated $420,000 through her cookbook The Whole Pantry and an app, in which she falsely claimed her brain cancer was cured through alternative therapies and nutrition.
It was later revealed she never had cancer.
Gibson has said she did not have the “capacity” to pay the fine. She has previously been warned she could face jail over her refusal to pay the $410,000 fine imposed by Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer.
