SINGAPORE: The whereabouts of an alleged con woman featured in a scam documentary were revealed on Saturday (Apr 5), when she was produced in Singapore’s State Courts for fraud charges.
British national Dionne Marie Hanna, 84, was arrested on Mar 28, days after a documentary called Con Mum debuted on streaming platform Netflix. It tells the story of how she allegedly tricked her son, leaving him in debt, after reconnecting with him.
Hanna appeared in the State Courts via videolink. She was lying on a hospital bed, dressed in a striped shirt. An investigating officer was with Hanna, who was unrepresented.
She was then handed five counts of fraud by false representation involving three alleged victims.
According to the police, Hannah allegedly cheated her victims through promises of investment opportunities and inheritance entitlements.
The victims were asked to transfer money for legal fees and the opening of overseas bank accounts, and were allegedly promised that they would be reimbursed through Hanna’s inheritance.
ACCUSED CLAIMED SHE IS TERMINALLY ILL
Two of the offences are said to have occurred in France, where Hanna supposedly deceived a man named Paiman Supangat.
Between Mar 3 and Mar 5, Hanna is said to have told him that he needed to pay legal fees to open a bank account, and for her to increase the contribution amount to him.
She is also accused of deceiving Mr Paiman into thinking that she intended to repay him the money that she wanted to borrow from him to fund her personal shopping expenses. She had no intention of returning the money, the charge stated.
In Singapore, sometime between Feb 17 and Mar 10, Hanna claimed that she was from the Brunei royal family, that she was terminally ill with cancer, and that she wanted to distribute her wealth to Mr Paiman and his son.
Her purported health condition was allegedly used to cheat another victim in Singapore, Mr Mohamed Syafiq Paiman. She allegedly expressed her desire to distribute her wealth to him on Mar 10 this year.
Hanna is suspected of deceiving a third victim, Mr Mohamed Ariffin Mohamed Kawaja Kamaludin, at 10 Scotts Road – the address of Grand Hyatt hotel in Singapore – from Feb 13 to Feb 14.
She allegedly committed fraud by making him believe she was terminally ill with cancer, and expressing her intention to donate S$3 million (US$2.2 million) to Masjid Khalid and S$2 million to Mawar Community Services, a registered society to help ex-offenders.
Charge sheets did not state the value of losses suffered by the alleged victims.
Singapore police said on Friday that Hanna is believed to be involved in at least five cases of cheating with losses amounting to more than S$200,000.
The judge granted the prosecution’s application to have Hanna remanded for a week upon her discharge from Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and for permission to have her taken out for investigations into similar offences.
Asked if she understood, Hanna replied “yes” weakly.
Her case will be mentioned again on Apr 11.
CON MUM DOCUMENTARY
Singapore police said that they have been receiving reports from victims since Mar 28.
The victims only realised that they had been cheated after Hanna was featured in Con Mum, which became available on Netflix on Mar 25.
Con Mum follows the experience of a London pastry chef Graham Hornigold, whose life was upended when Hanna, claiming to be his long-lost mother, reappeared to him in 2020. Hanna is referred to as Dionne in the film.
Presenting herself as a wealthy daughter of the sultan of Brunei, Hanna then proceeds to con Mr Hornigold and other victims out of more than hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to the documentary. The developments caused Mr Hornigold’s split with his partner.
The story is told through interviews with Mr Hornigold, his ex-partner and other alleged victims of Hanna’s.
At the end of it, Mr Hornigold is shown to have a video call with Hanna, who claims to be in Malaysia. However, media reports on the film have placed her whereabouts as unknown, as Hanna declined to participate in the documentary.
A DNA test shown at the end of the documentary concludes that Hanna was indeed Mr Hornigold’s biological mother.
If convicted of fraud by false representation in Singapore, an offender may be jailed for up to 20 years, fined, or both.
