Hunter Leah Charles faces Toowoomba Magistrates Court for receiving tainted property

The 23-year-old said she found the property, including an all-terrain vehicle, in her home when she woke. See what the court thought.

A 23-year-old woman found with $10,000 worth of stolen property, including an all-terrain vehicle, in her home claimed she had simply woken up one morning to find the stuff there.

Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told Hunter Leah Charles’ Highfields home had been visited by police with a search warrant on Tuesday, March 28.

Police found an array of property including a range of power tools and an all-terrain vehicle reportedly stolen from the gardener’s shed at Mary MacKillop College in Highfields the night before, police prosecutor Kinsley Weir told the court.

The vehicle and tools were worth an estimated $10,000, Senior Constable Weir said.

Also found at the Bowtell Drive residence was an ice pipe which Charles conceded was hers, the court was told.

Charles spent the night in custody and appeared via video link from the watch house to plead guilty to receiving tainted property, possessing a drug utensil and failing to report to Highfields police as part of her bail obligations relating to other charges.

The court was told Charles was subject to probation and a community service order at the time for which the department was expected to take breach action.

Toowoomba Courthouse

Solicitor Phil Stainton, for Charles, told the court his client instructed, as she told police, that she had woken to find the property in her home and though she suspected it was stolen hadn’t called police.

Mr Stainton said Charles was a qualified barber and for a time had her own barber shop which she lost due to her boyfriend of the time having an extensive drug habit.

His client was the carer for her partner who was a 13-year Defence Force veteran and though she conceded to having used meth over the past two years she was seeking counselling for that, he said.

Mr Stainton said given his client’s criminal history and the penalties imposed in the past the court had few options but to impose a term of imprisonment.

Magistrate Clare Kelly agreed and sentenced Charles to three months in jail but suspended the whole term forthwith to hang over her head for the next nine months.

Originally published as Hunter Leah Charles faces Toowoomba Magistrates Court for receiving tainted property