Rachael Thora Smith in court for public nuisance
A woman’s crime spree of multiple public nuisance offences, drugs and stealing left a service station worker in fear and shut down all the fuel pumps, but that was just the start.
Police & Courts
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Committing three public nuisance offences in the space of two weeks, including an incident where she hit the emergency stop button on fuel pumps at a petrol station, cost a Fraser Coast woman $1500 in fines this week.
Rachael Thora Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of public nuisance, possessing dangerous drugs, possessing drug utensils, stealing and obstructing police when she appeared before Maryborough Magistrates Court.
Police prosecutor Sonia Edwards said police had been called to an address in Ann St, Maryborough, in relation to Smith yelling, screaming and banging on doors.
Sergeant Edwards said Smith had been drinking and an informant told police she had yelled threats at neighbouring properties and was banging on the doors.
She had been in the middle of the road with a scooter, swinging it at passing cars, Sgt Edwards said.
Police went to the rear of the property and located Smith, who was arrested for public nuisance.
Sgt Edwards said as police walked her to the front of the house, officers had to grab her as she dropped her weight down to the ground and refused to get up and walk.
Smith then had to be assisted into the police car, including refusing to place her legs inside the car.
In a separate incident, police attended the Mobil service station on Saltwater Creek Rd at St Helens where Smith was creating a disturbance.
Smith had asked the attendant to call her a taxi as she was unable to do it, Sgt Edwards said.
She then started becoming aggressive, yelling, swearing and banging on the door of the business.
The female attendant was in fear, locking the shop and calling police.
As Smith left, she hit the emergency stop button to the fuel pumps, causing all the pumps to shut down, which meant they had to be reset again, the court was told.
In another incident, Smith was camping with a man when police located a bag with 1.6 grams of cannabis, it heard.
She told the officers the cannabis was hers but said she had a script for it on her son’s mobile phone.
There was also a water pipe that had been used to smoke the cannabis, Sgt Edwards said.
Smith was told to produce the script as soon as possible, but she was unable to do that.
In relation to the shop steal, Sgt Edwards said Smith entered the electronics section at Big W, taking a pair of earbuds worth $5, placing them down her pants and then leaving the store.
In a separate public nuisance incident, police were called to Cambridge St in Granville in relation to a disturbance.
Smith came out and confronted police and appeared to be intoxicated, the court heard, telling them to “get the f —k out of my mate’s house”.
Police tried to keep her calm but she continued to yell and scream, the court was told.
She attempted to re-enter a unit while she continued to yell and scream and she was arrested, Sgt Edwards said.
Duty lawyer Warren Hunter said the public nuisance offences had occurred over a couple of weeks.
“Around that time, my client’s partner was having heart issues and then went to Victoria, to Geelong,” he said.
Smith had been under considerable stress at the time, Mr Hunter said.
She had lost her partner three weeks ago, he said, but Smith was coping “fairly well” with her loss, he said.
Magistrate Stephen Guttridge fined her a total of $1500 and convictions were recorded.
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