Sheyane Jay-Lee Robyn Dwyer faces court over petrol thefts

A homeless woman pleaded guilty to 16 charges, including numerous fuel drive-offs, in a South Burnett courthouse earlier this week.

A 30-year-old woman had her day in court after committing a spree of fuel drive-offs across the Wide Bay earlier this year. Photo credit: iStock

A South Burnett woman has faced the music after a spree of servo thefts earlier this year.

Sheyane Jay-Lee Robyn Dwyer, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of wilful damage, one count of possessing a stolen political sign, two counts of unlicensed driving, one count each of breaching bail and failing to appear, and 10 counts of stealing food and fuel in Murgon Magistrates court on Tuesday, April 22.

The court heard the incidents occurred between January 17 and March 28 and the locations ranged from Bundaberg to Gympie.

The series of stealing charges included walking away with groceries from the Tiaro Foodworks, stealing six 2L bottles of milk from a crate at the Kingaroy McDonalds and shoplifting food like Ice Breaks and sandwiches from various service stations around the Wide Bay.

The locations included the NightOwl Torquay, Liberty Oil at Bundaberg Airport, Stargazers Yarraman, Shell Goomeri Truckstop, United Ryke Fuel Kingaroy, Freedom Fuel Kingaroy, and EG Ampol Bundaberg.

According to the police prosecutor, Dwyer stole about $330 worth of fuel from seven different service stations and more than $90 worth of food during this period.

The court heard Dwyer and her boyfriend at the time had also been caught staying in a small donga style building on the football club grounds in Beerwah on December 23, 2024, which they had been “living rough” in for around 10 days.

Liberty Oil at the Bundaberg Airport was one of the seven service stations the defendant stole fuel or food from. Photo credit: Shankar Kotha / Google Maps

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Police prosecutor Pepe Gangemi said they thought they had permission to “camp out” there, but this was denied by the people who managed the property.

Sergeant Gangemi said the dwelling was found in a “disordered” condition and the furniture needed “extensive cleaning” after multiple animals had been living in the donga.

“There was urine and faeces from dogs that had been in there, defecating on the floor,” Sgt Gangemi said.

Mark Werner, Dwyer’s lawyer, told the court his client had been trying to escape a domestic violence relationship.

He said she did not have access to her disability pension because it was being paid into her partner’s bank account.

She had been working with parole and this was fixed up in the last month, which meant she now had access to her own money.

“Your honour can pretty much read into this sudden spree of what I would call a series of petty thefts whilst homeless,” Mr Werner said.

“It was a sort of ramping up of behaviour because of circumstances, because of stress, mental health and domestic violence she was suffering.”

The court heard Dwyer had a fairly limited criminal history with no previous dishonesty charges and had been struggling with mental health issues for some time.

She was taken into custody on Saturday and had been in the watchouse for three days.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair did not order restitution for any of the businesses affected and sentenced Dwyer to 18 months probation and disqualified her from driving for two years.

Convictions were recorded.