220 convictions, 23 prison stints: $60,000 fraud latest crime for 'gentle giant'

Wednesday, 20 August 2025

Tony Valentine sat down with Stuff in 2016 to tell his story of being a misunderstood “gentle giant”.

Tony Valentine once vehemently denied allegations that he was a part of a criminal group, calling himself a “gentle giant” who had never even had a speeding ticket.

Everybody had an addiction, he said. For some that was drugs, gambling or sex. For him, it was driving. The car enthusiast denied his alleged involvement in a prolific boy racer ring that had been terrorising Christchurch.

“I’m not going to say I’m a saint or anything,” he told a reporter. “But I’m trying to do my best now, I'm a solo dad, I’ve got a daughter and I’m just trying to do the best for her.”

Car enthusiast Tony Valentine says he's not a boy racer who is 'just out there doing skids'.

He admitted spending time behind bars for drink-driving but said his days of getting in trouble with the police were behind him.

Four years later, in October 2020, Valentine forged a letter from ACC to inform the Ministry of Social Development that he was no longer receiving weekly payments for an injury. He then applied for the benefit.

Over the next three years he would be overpaid just shy of $60,000 in various benefits under false pretences. He twice lied about the payments so that they would continue.

And as a Christchurch courtroom heard on Tuesday, the fraud was the latest of hundreds of crimes he had committed. At the age of 53 Valentine has amassed 220 previous convictions, 137 for dishonesty offending. He has been to prison 23 times. Fraud and driving-related crimes are littered throughout his rap sheet.

So familiar with the courts is Valentine that the judge who was sentencing him remembered him from decades ago.

Valentine, 53, was known to police more than he previously let on.

“I’ll put my cards on the table,” Judge Noel Walsh said. “I was in this job 26 years ago in Invercargill and remember sending you to prison.” A look of self-disappointment washed over Valentine’s face as he confirmed he remembered the judge too.

“I didn’t forget the name,” the judge said. “You are 53 now. It is time to make some changes. “By my count you’ve been to prison 23 different times.”

“Way too many times sir,” Valentine replied, his head bowed in the dock.

Tony Valentine outside the Christchurch Justice Precinct after being sentenced to six months home detention for $60,000 worth of benefit fraud.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of forgery and another of obtaining by deception. His lawyer Kathy Basire said her client was waiting to be admitted to a programme for chronic pain management. He also shared custody of his 12-year-old son - one of his four children.

Basire suggested six months home detention might be appropriate. “It is definitely a punishment. It is dated now but I do not trivialise it. It is further dishonesty which he has a long history of. He will do rehabilitation and attend classes if he can manage the pain.”

Valentine’s last prison stint was in 2015. He had expressed no remorse to a pre-sentence report writer for his latest offending, the judge noted. Instead, he told a probation officer that he had developed an attitude of entitlement that allowed him to overlook illegality. He often used excuses like “it was all a mistake” or put his behaviour down to “errors of judgment.”

“Sadly, this has become part of an entrenched pattern,” Judge Walsh said.

However, the judge was persuaded that Valentine would lose his Kāinga Ora home if he was imprisoned again, which could have an adverse impact on the son for whom he shared care. He imposed a sentence of six months home detention.

“I had thought about community work but, due to your chronic pain issues, that would not be a realistic or practical outcome.”

Reparation was not sought as Valentine had been paying $30 a week back to MSD.