A former reality TV contestant and ex-NRL WAG turned professional boxer has launched an appeal after she was jailed for stealing $52,000 from her employer.
Arabella Del Busso was sentenced to 20 months behind bars earlier this year after she pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing as an employee between September 2019 and February 2020.
She was working as a receptionist for Rheumatology Specialist Care at their practices in Kogarah and Randwick when she devised a scheme to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the business.
On multiple occasions, the court documents reveal the ex-girlfriend of former NRL star Josh Reynolds told clients the EFTPOS machine wasn’t working and asked them to pay in cash instead.
“Unfortunately our EFTPOS facilities are down so it will be a cash transaction today of $170 sorry for the inconvenience,” she said in a text message sent out to 18 patients.
Del Busso fleeced $35,785 from the medical centre’s Kogarah facility and $16,565 from the Randwick office over five months before a manager noticed the financial discrepancies.
The court documents show the lingerie model had deposited $18,215 into her personal accounts.
In February, Magistrate Hugh Donnelly sentenced Del Busso to at least 12 months behind bars for the “appalling breach of trust” with a maximum of 20 months imprisonment.
The celebrity boxer is now appealing the severity of her jail term in the NSW District Court.
On Monday, her lawyer Nasser Hamowi told the court he required an assessment of Del Busso’s suitability for community service in order for the appeal to progress.
Judge Timothy Gartelmann ordered a report and adjourned the matter until April 10, when the model’s appeal is due to be heard.
The appeal will be the last step for the matter, which has been before the courts for more than two years.
Del Busso was convicted of the theft in her absence in early 2023 but succeeded in overturning the decision before she was ultimately sentenced in February.
She has been behind bars for more than seven weeks over the staggering $52,000 fraud.
The model previously had a prominent and rocky relationship with former Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs star Josh Reynolds that dissolved when it became known she had faked a pregnancy.
She admitted to the fake pregnancy when she appeared on the reality show SAS Australia only months after she was fired from Rheumatology Specialist Care.
Before her incarceration, Del Busso was working as a lingerie model and celebrity boxer.