Face tatts, glass eye and prison time: Young mum’s ‘chaotic’ life

A young Logan woman convicted of stealing cars, possessing drugs and obstructing police has been given a second chance.

A young Logan woman who has spent most of her ‘chaotic’ adult life behind bars was granted a chance to turn her life around at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Darnikah Carrina Plumstead pleaded guilty via videolink to 13 offences which took place between February 2019 and November 2020, when she was aged just 21 and 22-years-old.

The court heard Plumstead, who appeared with a glass eye and the word ‘Solider’ boldly tattooed over her eyebrow, suffered severely as a child.

Darnika Plumstead was released on parole yesterday.

According to defence lawyer Alan Phillips of Phillips Lawyers, Plumstead had been subjected to various forms of violence, including losing her eye when she was aged three.

The court heard that in the absence of proper parental support, Plumstead turned to drugs and developed a significant methamphetamine addiction.

From there she rapidly racked up an increasingly shocking criminal history, which at her current age of 23, is a lengthy seven pages long.

On Wednesday the court heard about the “chaotic” crime spree Plumstead committed over the last year or so, while on a drug-fuelled rampage across Logan.

She had just given birth a daughter.

The vast majority of the offending involved Plumstead behind the wheel of stolen cars, or implicated in the theft of cars by forensic fingerprint evidence.

She was busted driving, crashing, or having been inside of, stolen cars on four occasions, the most notable of which occurred when driving a car unlawfully taken from Andy’s Auto Rentals at Logan Central on November 3.

The case was heard by the Beenleigh Magistrates Court.

When apprehended, Plumstead lashed out at police, leading to an obstruction of police charge on October 2.

All in all, Plumstead plead guilty to one count of commit public nuisance, one count of driving without a license as a repeat offender, one count of obstructing police, two counts of unlawful entry into a motor vehicle, one count of possession of explosives, three counts of breach of bail, one count of possessing drug utensils, two counts of unlawful possession of a motor vehicle and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon.

The court heard Plumstead was remanded in pre-sentence custody on November 19 on additional charges of alleged robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, charges she will face at a later committal hearing on May 30.

She has spent the last 159 days in custody.

Magistrate Clare Kelly told Plumstead she’d placed herself in a lot of serious situations, with serious implications.

Plumstead received a head sentence of 15 months imprisonment with immediate parole release and disqualified from driving for six months.