Former WAG and reality TV contestant’s bold pledge after $52k theft

A former NRL WAG and reality TV contestant has pledged to “become a better person” and earn forgiveness through professional boxing after she was jailed for stealing $52,000. Arabella Del Busso has been in custody since February, when she was jailed for 20 months after stealing tens of thousands of dollars from her employer. However, her sentence was slashed to just five months after a successful appeal in the NSW District Court this week. In an emotional handwritten letter tendered to the court, the ex-girlfriend of former NRL star Josh Reynolds said she regretted stealing from her employer every day. “Not only have I let myself down but I have let my loved ones, friends, and fans down,” she wrote. Del Busso revealed she believes her path to redemption lies in continuing her career as a professional boxer, which she said will allow her to “become a better version of myself”. “Once my freedom is reinstated, I wish to have the ability to move forward to a positive future … and continue my boxing career where people will forgive, be inspired, and look up to (me),” she said. In his own letter to the court, her boyfriend confirmed the model would “do everything in her power” to atone for her crime. “She is determined to make things right and be someone that the community can be proud of,” he said. The model’s bold promise was revealed after Judge John Pickering slammed her theft as “brazen” and found she had stolen the money “purely for her own financial gain”. “There can be no excuse for simply stealing money from a small business, irrespective of any financial position that anyone gets themselves into,” he emphasised. The judge noted Del Busso had previously displayed “aspects of dishonesty” during the breakdown of her relationship with former NRL star Josh Reynolds. While appearing on the reality TV show SAS Australia, she publicly disclosed she had faked a miscarriage during the relationship. “The reality is that these are dishonesty offences and there are aspects of (Del Busso’s) prior history that involve dishonesty, so there is a linkage in some respects,” Judge Pickering said. The court heard the model was working as a receptionist for Rheumatology Specialist Care at their practices in Kogarah and Randwick when she devised a scheme to steal tens of thousands of dollars. Between September 2019 and February 2020, she netted more than $52,000 through a fraud that was savaged by Judge Pickering as “pretty basic” and “easily detected in time”. The court heard Del Busso told clients on multiple occasions that the card machine at the medical centre wasn’t working and asked them to pay in cash instead. “Unfortunately our EFTPOS facilities are down so it will be a cash transaction today of $170 sorry for the inconvenience,” she said in a text message sent out to 18 patients. She fleeced $35,785 from the medical centre’s Kogarah facility and $16,565 from the Randwick office over five months before a manager noticed the financial discrepancies. The court documents show the boxer had deposited $18,215 into her personal bank accounts. The court heard she has borrowed money to pay back the funds she embezzled from her former employer. “I am so embarrassed and sorry for what I did to my employer and not a day goes by where I don’t completely regret (it),” Del Busso told the court. She will be released from prison in July.