Inala mum of four steals multiple vehicles through online site

Repeatedly ramming police with a stolen vehicle was not the worst thing a meth-affected mother did while on a months’ long barrage.

A “one-woman-crime-wave” who drove at a young family to escape police has faced court.

Inala mother-of-four Erica Ann Silvester, 31, pleaded guilty to 39 charges at Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Thursday (January 6).

Most serious among them were charges of dangerous operation of a vehicle; evading police; unlawful use of a vehicle and entering a dwelling.

The court heard on November 9, 2020 her offending nearly had tragic consequences.

Having evaded police in the morning in Winton, Silvester was cornered by more police in a car park at around 2pm.

When police approached she locked herself in a stolen vehicle and rammed a police vehicle before driving at a young mother with two small children and crashing into concrete blocks.

Undeterred, she rammed a police vehicle a second time before officers managed to smash her window to arrest her.

Erica Ann Silvester, 31, went on a drug-affected crime-wave, according to a magistrate.

Acting magistrate Paul Byrne denounced her behaviour as “appalling and life-endangering”.

“You were too stupid to understand the nature of your own stupidity,” Mr Byrne said.

“Why the one-woman-crime-wave?”

The court heard Silvester used various stolen vehicles unlawfully on nine occasions between July 3, 2017 – and November 2020, some of which she procured through fraud.

The defendant was accompanied by two males when she showed falsified online bank transactions to second-hand vehicle sellers on Facebook Marketplace before driving off without actually paying.

Silvester made off a with a black Audi sold for $5,000; a silver BMW sold for $7,000; a white Volkswagen Golf sold for $7,500 and a Subaru sold for $15,000.

Much of the drug-affected offending occurred while on a suspended jail sentence for similar offending between April – November 2020, and ranged from Inala, Slacks Creek, Eagleby, Sumner, Berrinba, Yatala, Woodridge, Winton, Longreach and Mount Isa.

Noting Silvester had spent 772 in pre-sentence custody, police prosecutor Sergeant Rochelle Paz Landim urged a 22-month prison sentence for the woman who amassed an eight-page criminal history since 2009.

An unrepresented Silvester said she could not express how sorry she was for her offending.

She read out five letters from family and friends describing her marked change since her most recent stint in custody.

When Silvester attributed her traumatic upbringing to her offending, Mr Murphy said it would have been nothing compared to the grief felt for the young family she nearly killed while attempting to evade police.

With 772 days in pre-sentence custody declared, she was sentenced to 22 months’ prison and granted immediate parole release.