69 www.rnca.ca In 2015, Lillian Thomey legally sold them her home for $1. She remained living upstairs while her daughter and son-in-law occupied the basement apartment. “They told me they were [going to] look after me,” Lillian Thomey told a small-claims court hearing last December. “They stole my money.” The exact details of how that happened would be revealed in court — in both civil and criminal cases. ‘Inconsistent’ at civil trial Lillian Thomey filed a statement of claim for nearly $25,000 — the maximum amount allowable in Newfoundland and Labrador small-claims courts — against her daughter and sonin-law in October 2019. At an emotional and contentious two-day hearing last December, Lillian Thomey outlined the impact the situation has had on her life. “I’m dying of a broken heart. I’ll never get over this,” Lilian Thomey told Judge Mark Pike. “My life was stolen from me. If you can’t trust your own daughter, who can you trust?” Lillian Thomey said she had given the Puddisters permission to use her debit card to buy medication, groceries and other miscellaneous items. There was no formal agreement. In civil court, the couple admitted using the card on her behalf but said there were no specified limitations on what it could be used for. But Paul Thomey found there were thousands of dollars spent on items he didn’t believe his mother requested or needed, like a $700 purchase at Jump+, an Apple retailer in the Avalon Mall, and thousands of dollars in groceries. Lillian Thomey sold the family home to her daughter and sonin-law, Jackie and Christopher Puddister,for $1 in 2015 in exchange for homecare. (Submitted by Paul Thomey) Both Jackie and Christopher Puddister — backed up by the other Thomey brother — said more people had access to the card at times. Jackie Puddister said the multiple withdrawals —often in $400 increments, which was the maximum allowable amount — went to reimburse them for items and bills they paid on her mother’s behalf. They repeated that they lost money by moving to Newfoundland, and despite being given a mortgage-free home, got a hefty loan to renovate the property and build a garage. “I was just trying to survive. I was trying to pay bills,” Jackie Puddister told the court. “I had a light bill — sometimes it was $700 and $800 — I had phone bills, I had cable bills.” Jackie Puddister and her husband denied any wrongdoing, and blamed her brother Paul Thomey for putting ideas in their mother’s head. But the judge didn’t buy it. Mother awarded maximum amount Pike said Jackie Puddister’s statements were combative and inconsistent. “From a global perspective, the rates of cash withdrawals don’t make sense to me given the plaintiff ’s modest needs and income during the period in question,” Pike said. “The defendants were severely strained for funds and under a heavy debt load and, in my view, this provided a situation that was ripe with opportunity for them to take advantage, by them having the use of her mother and his mother-in-law’s debit card.” Judge Pike awarded Lillian Thomey $25,000 plus $9,000 damages with pre-judgment interest. Paul Thomey also went to the RCMP in Harbour Grace with his findings. The Mounties investigated, and in the summer of 2020, the couple was charged with theft over $5,000. Christopher Puddister faced an additional charge of obtaining credit by a false pretense. Despite their adamant denial of the allegations against them at the civil trial, the Puddisters pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000. During a criminal sentencing hearing in July, more information was revealed about the amounts of money involved. Over the course of one year, $3,697 was misused from her chequing account, according to facts read into the court record during a sentencing hearing on July 15. Crown prosecutor Jill Quilty said the total amount was difficult to tabulate, adding that she removed purchases which may have been for Thomey herself. FromOctober 2018 to May 2019, over $4,400 was removed from her savings account — once held as a future fund for her grandchildren. ‘Who can you trust?’ (continued) Paul Thomey sits behind a pile of banking transactions which he turned over to police in August 2019 showing unauthorized purchases and withdrawals on his mother's accounts. (Ariana Kelland/CBC) continued
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