ALMOST 12 months after being acquitted of murdering her husband, Susan Falls again faces the prospect of jail - this time for welfare fraud.

Mrs Falls, from Brisbane, pleaded guilty to defrauding Centrelink of almost $80,000, but claimed her violent and controlling spouse Rodney had forced her to commit the crime.

The mother-of-four made headlines last year when she was found not guilty of her husband's 2006 murder.

Mrs Falls had drugged her husband's dinner before shooting him in the head. She kept his body for several days before his corpse was dumped in a forest, and then reported him missing.

Mrs Falls, 43, admitted to killing the steroid-pumped bodybuilder after years of abuse and a threat to kill one of their children.

She is using the same defence employed in her murder trial - that her husband bullied her and controlled her life - to try to avoid jail for the Centrelink fraud.

Southport Magistrates Court heard she received $78,284 in benefits between 2001 and 2006 after telling Centrelink she was a single mother.

She also illegally claimed rent assistance, telling the welfare agency she and her husband owned a rental property.

Defence barrister Jeff Hunter, SC, said Mrs Falls had committed the fraud at the behest of her husband.

"Every aspect of her life was dominated by her husband," he said.

Mr Falls had used his wife's ATM card and PIN number to withdraw the Centrelink cash from her account, Mr Hunter told the court.

Despite being prosecuted for only $38,000, she had repaid Centrelink the full $78,284 using money earned from media deals in the wake of her murder acquittal, he said.

However, Commonwealth prosecutors are pushing for a three-month jail term for Mrs Fall.

Prosecutor Glen Rice said Mrs Falls had given an 'exhaustive' list of ways her husband had ruled her life without ever mentioning he had forced her to commit Centrelink fraud.

Magistrate Ron Kilner reserved his decision until next Friday.