A pizza factory worker who stole more than €21,000 in bogus benefits to have weight-loss surgery in Turkey has been told by a judge to “accelerate” her repayments. Svitlana Karabudak appeared before Donegal Circuit Court.The 50-year-old woman used her friend’s Public Services Card to claim one-parent family and child benefit payments from Bundoran Post Office after the friend had returned to Ukraine.The accused woman was previously charged with a total of 42 offences, including 16 of theft, 13 of deception and 13 of forgery. She pleaded guilty to a number of sample charges of deception, forgery and theft.Det Garda Paul Lynch told prosecuting barrister Fiona Crawford that the fraudulent claims were made over a period of one year, from March 2023 to March 2024.The total lost to the exchequer was €21,416.An inspector from the Department of Social Protection’s special investigations unit had discovered that Liudmyla Rahimova had been residing in a bed-and-breakfast in Bundoran, but had subsequently left to return to Ukraine with her two children.It was established that the woman no longer resided at the address, but somebody was still in receipt of payments being collected at Bundoran Post Office.Gardaí arrived at Karabudak’s home and searched it on March 18th, 2024.A Public Services Card in the name of Liudmyla Rahimova was found, as well as €4,100 in €50 notes and receipts for the cash.In total, Karabudak admitted claiming €17,056 in one-parent family payments, €3,840 in child benefit payments and a back-to-school payment of €520.The accused, who came to Ireland in 2022 to escape the war and has no previous convictions, admitted her wrongdoing.During interview, she told detectives she had travelled to Turkey for a weight-reduction operation, as well as an operation for her son.Having heard representations for the accused from barrister Sean McGee, instructed by solicitor Rory O’Brien, Judge John Aylmer said he was anxious to impose a non-custodial sentence.Last May, he adjourned final sentencing for a year to allow the accused woman to repay the monies. The case was adjourned until yesterday, when the court heard €10,910 of the money defrauded is still outstanding. McGee said his client is paying between €100 and €150 per week, but stressed she is the breadwinner in the home and is still looking after her son, who has additional needs.Judge Aylmer said “concerted efforts” had been made to repay the monies. He would have preferred to see an acceleration in payments, but that had not happened, he said.“It does seem this woman is hard-working and doing her best, albeit somewhat slower than the court would like to see,” he said.He added she was working and looking after her son, and deserved more time to meet the repayments.He adjourned the case until the next sitting of the court in December to see what progress is made.