A PORTLAND children’s charity walk organiser has told a court she felt sick and broke into tears after hearing an alleged fraudster was collecting in Warrnambool before walkers arrived in the city.
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Thomas Alexius Vandermey, 53, of Ardonachy Street, Macarthur, has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of attempting to or dishonestly obtaining donations by claiming to be a Make A Wish (MAW) fund-raiser.
The charges relate to his fund-raising in Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Condah.
Portland Make A Wish branch president Gail Jaensch yesterday gave evidence in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court.
Ms Jaensch said she had been a MAW volunteer for 23 years and the Portland branch president for the past 15 years.
She said the branch annually organised a walk from Melbourne to Portland and accredited fund-raisers had to undergo police and working with children checks before being given official identification.
Ms Jaensch said that in 2012 walkers left Melbourne on July 23 and arrived in Warrnambool on a wet and cold July 28.
She recalled walking into a florist shop to buy flowers and a woman working in the shop commented on what a great job the walkers were doing and that she had donated to the fund-raiser.
“I knew the walkers were back in Panmure,” Ms Jaensch said.
The walk organiser asked if the man collecting donations had a uniform or identification and the florists said no.
“I felt sick. I had tears in the shop. I attended the police station and reported that it was not one of our volunteers,” Ms Jaensch said. She later attended the Warrnambool police station to look at security camera footage of the man.
She said she didn’t know him and had never heard about him, he was not a registered volunteer, had never telephoned her or left a message on her answering machine.
Ms Jaensch said she was involved in the accreditation of Portland area volunteers.
MAW Australia general manager Sarah Downie said her organisation had no record of Thomas Vandermey although he had registered as a collector on a third-party fund-raising website.
She said Mr Vandermey had never made a donation to the foundation or been a volunteer, although he had been sent a generic email after registering on the Everyday Hero website.
“You can’t just choose to randomly fund-raise for an organisation,” she said.
Magistrate Peter Mellas adjourned the case until September 23 so he could read a 700-question police interview with Mr Vandermey.
