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An elderly couple have "divorced" their son after he stole their life savings, leaving just 34 cents in their bank account.
Heather and Noel Laurent, both 70, took pity on their son and let him stay rent-free at their Te Puke retirement village.
But while Heather cooked and did her son's washing, and Noel tried to recover from a stroke, he was fleecing their accounts and shattering their retirement dreams.
Brett Andrew Laurent, 38, was jailed for 18 months on Friday after pleading guilty in the Tauranga District Court to 28 charges relating to stealing money and household goods from his parents.
Brett who turned up at his parents doorstep last August penniless and heartbroken after his girlfriend kicked him out stole $10,000 from their bank accounts, stole electrical goods from their home and failed to repay a loan of $10,000, ending the couple's life-long dream of taking an overseas holiday.
"He can rot in hell, the sooner the better," Heather told Sunday News.
The couple, who have been married for 42 years, want nothing more to do with Brett and plan to move from Te Puke so he can't find them once he's released. They don't even want him told when they die.
"He will never come into our lives again. He's had lots and lots of chances," Heather said.
"You just forget he ever existed. We must get on with our lives and forget we had a son.
"We just don't want to see him. We don't want him to ring us, or write letters or come anywhere near us."
Heather addressed the court when Brett was sentenced to ensure he got what was coming to him.
"How could a son, to whom we had given so much help, forgiveness, kindness and hospitality and financial help, ruin our retirement?" Heather told the court.
But this isn't the first time Brett has stolen from the couple and their family.
"We had wiped our hands of him and cut him out of the will when we redid it four years ago," Heather said.
But when he turned up in August they thought they'd open their doors and hearts to him one more time. Little did they know that since they'd last seen him Brett had been to jail and amassed a lengthly criminal record.
"We thought he had changed. He seemed to be good, settled and happy," Heather said.
"We were even thinking of putting him back in the will. Thank goodness we didn't."
Brett told his parents he was working for a furniture removal company and that his work truck had broken down. In reality he had no job and was frittering away their savings in Auckland.
Heather only discovered the betrayal when her eftpos card was declined at an ATM.
"I was just angry. It was anger more than anything," she said.
"I was in real shock. I thought Noel was going to have another stroke.
"We have never been overseas. I need my teeth done, we need a new vehicle. We have saved and saved and saved."
The couple who have a 35-year-old daughter said Brett was the dream child until he hit his late teens.
"Most people think it's their upbringing but it wasn't," Heather said.
"We did everything for (our children). Those kids were never alone, I took them after school to all their activities soccer, Scouts, go-karting.
Brett's dad Noel said it was sad that he no longer had a son.
"All that for nothing. There's no hope for him any more.
"We will never be able to forgive."
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