A man charged with his wife of stealing $300,000 from four elderly residents confirmed to a court yesterday that one alleged victim is his godmother.

Jaymo Durham, 52, and Keiva Maronie Durham, 44, are accused of stealing more than $300,000 from four women who were clients of Ageing and Disability Services.

The alleged victims are Doreen Stevens, Nancy Locke, and Muriel and Loretta Smith. The offences are said to have taken place between February 23, 2012 and July 31, 2019.

The Durhams face claims they stole the money and also made and used false statements over the seven-year period.

Both deny the charges at their trial in the Supreme Court.

Mr Durham was asked, during a police interview shown on court screens, how he became receiver for Ms Stevens.

He revealed that an approach had been made and added: “Ms Stevens is my godmother. My mother and her are very good friends, and both are from Jamaica.”

Mr Durham told how he was encouraged to apply for her receivership after Ms Stevens became “forgetful and a possible danger to herself”.

The police interview was from February 1, 2021 on the same day the Durhams were cautioned and arrested at their home.

It featured two officers, detective constables Jeffrey Blair and Patrick Rock, putting a number of questions and allegations to Mr Durham while the jury were given transcripts of the footage as an aid.

Mr Blair, who is now a corporate lawyer, led most of the questioning in an interview lasting almost two hours.

Mr Durham told the officers how he was a lawyer practising at Amicus Law Chambers, but added that his wife had been a lawyer although she was not in possession of a practising certificate at that time.

A number of questions were put to Mr Durham regarding loans taken out and used from Ms Stevens’s account.

He denied knowledge of them and remarked that he failed to recall a lot of the transactions.

However, he said: “There has never been any intention to permanently deprive Ms Stevens.”

Mr Durham also told the court: “Ms Stevens had round-the-clock care. We also bought her groceries.”

The jury heard Mr Blair accuse Mr Durham of using $9,500 of Ms Stevens’s money to clear his credit card in September 2018, but he replied: “I wasn’t aware of that being transferred on to my credit card.”

He also said to Mr Durham: “You were just using Ms Stevens’s money.” But he insisted: “That’s not correct. I did not.”

The trial continues before Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe.

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