Sally-Anne Powell-Pepper, sister of Port Adelaide AFL player Sam, in vile attack on elderly victim in East Perth
The sister of Port Adelaide star Sam Powell-Pepper has admitted to a callous bashing of an innocent elderly woman before stealing her handbag and groceries.
Police & Courts
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The sister of AFL star Sam Powell-Pepper has been convicted of an attack on an innocent elderly victim, after admitting carrying out a callous robbery while on bail.
Sally-Anne Powell-Pepper, 23, was jailed for three years for two separate robberies — the second of which involved her bashing an elderly lady in an East Perth car park, before stealing her handbag and shopping.
District Court judge Ronald Birmingham described Powell-Pepper’s actions earlier this year as “disgraceful” and “thuggish”, while saying the community expected anyone who attacked an elderly victim to face severe consequences.
The consequences for the young mother-of-three will be at least 15 months in prison.
Prosecutor Thomas Ford told the court how in November last year, Powell-Pepper walked into the Liquorland store in Bayswater and took ten cans of bourbon cans, worth just over $50, out of a fridge before brazenly walking past the till and out of the door without paying.
When staff confronted her, she took a pair of scissors out and yelled: “Do you want me to stab you?”, before escaping.
She was arrested at a nearby bus stop, where the booze, the scissors and a knife were found. During a police interview, Powell-Pepper said: “I was drunk, and stupid and didn’t want her to stop me.”
On January 9 this year, just hours after appearing in court on those charges, Powell-Pepper then followed the elderly woman as she struggled with her shopping in a car park in Goderich Street.
She punched her and demanded she had over her bag — and when the woman offered her all the money in her handbag, Powell-Pepper punched her again, took the whole bag and the shopping.
She was arrested months later, and again admitted to what she had done. The age of the elderly victim was not revealed in court, but Judge Birmingham said vision after the incident showed she was “exceptionally distressed” by the attack.
“This sort of thuggish behaviour … there is no place for in civilised society,” he said. “Elderly people are entitled to be protected.”
Powell-Pepper’s lawyer outlined her troubled upbringing, which included substance abuse from an early age, the birth of her first child at 14, exposure to domestic violence — and the admission that she used take drugs with her mother.
He also referred to her brother’s footballing career, which currently sees him playing a pivotal role in the midfield for Port Adelaide, who sit atop the AFL ladder.
Powell-Pepper was jailed for three years, with eligibility for parole.
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Originally published as Sally-Anne Powell-Pepper, sister of Port Adelaide AFL player Sam, in vile attack on elderly victim in East Perth