Tanya Kearnes: Launceston taxi basher ‘addicted to shoplifting’
A young Tasmanian single mum who pleaded guilty to helping bash a taxi driver and setting fire to her mum’s house now says she can’t stop thieving as she pleads guilty to more charges.
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A young Tasmanian single mum who previously pleaded guilty to helping bash a cabbie and setting fire to her mum’s house now says she can’t stop thieving after she pleaded guilty to further offending.
Newnham woman Tanya Kaylene Kearnes, 22, pleaded guilty in Launceston Magistrates Court in May to seven offences, most seriously common assault and two counts of unlawfully setting fire to property.
She appeared before the court again on Tuesday charged with three additional counts of stealing.
Kearnes pleaded guilty to two of the charges, which were committed on April 22 and involved her pilfering jumpers, bras and underwear from Target and Myer in Launceston’s CBD, and not guilty to the third.
The court heard Kearnes confessed she was “addicted to shoplifting”.
Defence lawyer Lucy Flanagan told the court Kearnes initially stole goods to sell to obtain illicit substances, but now that she has kicked her drug addictions, she believed she “may have a problem with stealing” for which she is hoping to seek treatment.
Ms Flanagan submitted for her client to be dealt with by way of a community corrections order on some of the charges and deferring the others for Kearnes to show rehabilitation.
She said that although her client spent about two months in custody in 2019, she was still young enough that incarceration should only be considered as a last resort.
Ms Flanagan said Kearnes’ offending largely occurred when she had consumed “significant amounts of alcohol”, which she now only drank in moderation, as well as the kicking of her drug habit.
Magistrate Simon Brown said he needed time to consider the submissions.
He adjourned his decision on Kearnes’ sentence to August 5.
The charge of stealing to which Kearnes pleaded not guilty will also be mentioned on that day.
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Originally published as Tanya Kearnes: Launceston taxi basher ‘addicted to shoplifting’
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