Sad reason young mum Alarna Rose Heathcote used stolen bank card to buy toys

A young Ipswich mum has been sentenced for using stolen bank cards to purchase toys.

A young mum with a track record of dishonest offending has returned before the court with 14 new charges after she used stolen bank cards to buy toys.

Alarna Rose Heathcote, 26, pleaded guilty on Friday, August 26, to five counts of fraud (dishonest application of property of another), one count of attempted fraud (dishonest application of property of another), six counts of fraud (dishonestly gain benefit/advantage), and two counts of receiving tainted property.

The court heard Heathcote used two stolen bank cards in March this year and made a range of purchases including gift cards, scratch-its, clothing, children’s toys, petrol, cigarettes and everyday consumables.

Defence lawyer Matt Gemmell said Heathcote had been struggling financially at the time, and had been under the impression that the cards belonged to the person that gave them to her.

He further emphasised that many of the purchases were food and children’s toys that Heathcote had bought for her son’s upcoming birthday.

The court heard Heathcote had a relevant criminal history including drug offending as recent as July 2021, stealing, and an aggravated supply charge in 2018.

Mr Gemmell said since 2019, Heathcote’s offending had “largely been out of the ‘serious spotlight’ so to speak”.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Nick Turnbull emphasised that Heathcote had been on parole before and continued to reoffend, and that a probation order alone would therefore be “inadequate”.

“It’s not her card, it’s not her money, it’s patented dishonesty and she has a track record of this,” he said.

“If she wants to keep mothering her child … she’ll have the appropriate supervision of parole.”

“Sergeant Turnbull quite rightly has said that being a parent doesn’t give you a get out of free card,” said Magistrate Scoines.

Heathcote ultimately received a sentence of four months imprisonment, with immediate parole release.