Pauline Blake will never have to repay the thousands and thousands of dollars she ripped-off the community.
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It has been estimated she spent up to $25,000 collected for a bogus cancer charity on herself and her partner-in-crime, husband Dylan Blake.
But no compensation has been sought in the case, simply because there was no paper trail detailing who donated to the heartless fraudster.
The only punishment she has is a 12-month jail term that she will get to serve in her Lavington home.
Magistrate Tony Murray suggested to Blake she could have easily faced the more onerous penalty of prison time.
“It’s very fortunate that she didn’t come before me,” he said. “Obviously his honour found special circumstances.”
Fellow magistrate Michael Crompton previously ordered that Blake, 41, be jailed, though that this be in the form of home detention.
The court was told on Tuesday that Blake was deemed suitable for such an order, which Mr Murray then confirmed.
She was given a non-parole period of eight months, which means she will be allowed to leave home again on June 24 next year.
Blake was ordered to immediately return to her home to await the arrival of Community Corrections officers to fit her with monitoring equipment.
Dylan Blake will be sentenced on November 16, though because of parity in the matter – the pair carried out the ruse together, which meant each was charged with dishonestly obtaining property by deception – he too is unlikely to end up in jail.
Blake initially sobbed when she was given the 12-month jail term by Mr Crompton on September 14.
That was in sharp contrast to her relaxed demeanour on Tuesday, safe in the knowledge she would instead get to hang around her own home for a few months.
Mr Murray asked defence solicitor Chris Halburd whether compensation was being sought.
In reply, Mr Halburd said “no” as it was not known to who that money would be paid.
Blake came up with the idea of raising money for a fake cancer charity after her mother-in-law died of the disease.
They struggled to pay their bills, something which Mr Halburd previously indicated the crime was an offence “of need, rather than greed”.
Mr Murray though castigated Blake when she fronted court in early August.
“One would think there would be significant public condemnation of this type of behaviour. It’s a particularly callous deception.”
The fraud ran for three years from November in 2012 and involved walk-throughs in pubs and clubs and donations by businesses. Dylan Blake was not in court on Tuesday.
