Kerry-Lee Angelina Finnegan pleads guilty to stealing offences

A pregnant mother stole a car from a Mackay motel just 16 days after being released from jail and wound up facing the same magistrate. Find out what advice she was given.

A young mother of five broke into a hotel just 16 days after her release from jail.

And as a result Kerry-Lee Angelina Finnegan faced the same magistrate who previously sentenced her for similar offending.

Mackay Magistrates Court on December 12, 2021 she and an accomplice broke into an occupied room and stole car keys and a vehicle.

Finnegan was pregnant at the time.

Five days later, Finnegan broke into a motel and stole a set of master keys whose replacement cost the motel about $4500.

She also admitted to opportunistically stealing a Transformers toy for her children on January 3, shortly before her youngest daughters birth on January 22, 2022.

Her break-in spree ended on March 25 when Finnegan entered an unoccupied room at Rydges Mackay Suites on Gordon St, stealing keys for a vehicle she then stole from the carpark.

Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan had previously given Finnegan a suspended jail term for similar offending, and she had been released to “come out and have her baby”.

“It is really significant that you were only 16 days into these operational sentences,” Ms Hartigan said.

“So you didn’t get very far.”

The court heard Finnegan’s extensive criminal history listed 30 previous stealing charges, 11 illegal entries to dwellings or properties, and seven unlawful uses of a motor vehicle.

Peter Clark, of Strutynski Law, said his client had a troubled upbringing and a partner that “was a pretty bad influence on her” at the time of her crime spree.

Appearing via videolink, Finnegan said she “was just around the wrong crowd” after her release.

Ms Hartigan said further jail time was the “only appropriate penalty” given the young mum had offended while under a suspended sentence.

“When she gets out of custody, she focuses on these kids or she focuses on these people she’s running around with and the choice is hers,” she said.

“You’ve got to move away or you’ve just got to make new friends, because eventually you are just going to be in jail over and over and over again.

“I think you really do love your kids, so you’ve got to turn it around.

“The ball is in your court.”

Finnegan was jailed for 22 months with parole release on December 6, 2022 after serving eight months.