Astrid Jean Forrester Turner in court for theft, evade police
A mother of three convicted of drug trafficking and with a newborn in the courtroom has been convicted of another 37 crimes in a spree that impacted car owners and drivers across the region. SEE THE LIST OF CRIMES
Police & Courts
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A convicted drug trafficker has avoided further jail time after committing an extraordinary string of crimes including car theft from the Mothar Mountain speedway, and evading police.
Astrid Jean Forrester Turner, 27, faced Gympie Magistrates Court on Tuesday to be sentenced for 37 offences committed over several months from late 2022 to early 2023.
These included speeding away from police on two occasions.
Police prosecutor Allison Johnstone said on the first of these, Sunshine Coast police saw Forrester Turner perform an illegal U-turn at traffic lights near Sunshine Coast Plaza shopping centre on September 26, 2022.
They followed her along Maroochydore Rd with lights and pulled her over.
The officers then left their vehicle but, when one opened the driver’s side door, Forrester Turner yelled at them and sped off, hitting the police car as she left, the court heard.
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The second evasion happened shortly after a police officer, alerted by the public that someone was “slumped over” the steering wheel of a vehicle, found Forrester Turner unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a “dangerously” defective car.
Sgt Johnstone said the vehicle had underinflated tyres, including one on its rim, and a bent and broken axle.
Police eventually roused her, but she refused to get out of the car, instead locking the doors and driving off “in an erratic manner”.
Officers later tracked the car down, and found her nearby on her phone.
When they approached her she started smashing the device against a fence.
These were the most serious of more than three dozen charges, which also included stealing utes from the Gympie Saloon Car Club at Mothar Mountain Speedway in September 2022, stealing number plates with an unnamed co-accused from the carpark of Gympie’s Nestle factory in December 2022, and driving while disqualified.
Sgt Johnstone told the court Forrester Turner was on three years’ parole for trafficking, having been sentenced in the Supreme Court in April 2024, but was not on parole at the time of these crimes.
Defence lawyer Chris Anderson said his client spent 66 days in pre-sentence custody following her arrest in early 2023, and found jail to be an “eye-opening experience”.
She was now committed to staying sober, Mr Anderson said.
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Forrester Turner was supported by her partner, who sat in the gallery and helped care for her youngest child who was born in 2024.
“She has a lot of things to work for,” Mr Anderson said.
Forrester Turner pleaded guilty to five counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, four counts of driving while disqualified, three counts of driving an unregistered vehicle, three counts of stealing, two counts of receiving tainted property, two counts of using a vehicle with the wrong number plates, two counts of driving an uninsured vehicle, two counts of obstructing police, and one count each of breaching bail, dangerous operation of a vehicle and adversely affected by an intoxicating substance, dangerous operation of a vehicle, failing to remain at a place, possessing utensils or pipes that had been used, evasion, making a U-turn at an intersection with traffic lights, failure to appear, possessing dangerous drugs, stealing a vehicle, contravening a direction or requirement of police, parking a light vehicle on the road while it was defective, driving while disqualified as a repeat offender, and drug driving.
Magistrate Michael Bice said Forrester Turner was “obviously going through a bad time” but her behaviour had put herself and other people at risk.
“People could have got hurt,” Mr Bice said.
He sentenced her to 12 months jail, wholly suspended, and disqualified her from driving for two years.
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