Tahlia Kalotai: Crestmead ice addict jailed for crime spree

A 21-year-old woman who has been hooked on methamphetamines for six years and never held a job has been sentenced for 18 drug and property offences committed across southeast Queensland.

A young Logan methamphetamine addict who has been hooked on the destructive substance for six years has gotten her first taste of jail after she was sentenced for 18 property and drug offences.

Crestmead woman Tahlia Siobhan Kalotai, 21, pleaded guilty via videolink in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday to the 18 offences, which were committed on various dates between February last year and January 14 when she was arrested and remanded in custody.

Her offending included two counts of burglary, two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, three counts of receiving tainted property, four counts of fraud, two counts of possessing a drug utensil, and one count each of attempted fraud, possessing tainted property, entering a premise to commit an indictable offence, possessing dangerous drugs and obstructing police.

Crestmead woman Tahlia Siobhan Kalotai, 21. Picture: Facebook

The two burglaries were committed at Parkinson on December 6 last year and Kuraby on January 1 this year.

The court heard many of her offences were committed while she was on an eight-month parole order imposed on March 17, 2020, for offences of a similar nature.

It was submitted on Kalotai’s behalf that she had an “unstable upbringing”, with her parents in and out of custody.

She began using cannabis at 14 and ice at 15, and had a “fairly significant” criminal history for someone aged 21.

The court heard her current offending was precipitated by her feelings of being abandoned after her father was sent back to custody after four years in the community.

Kalotai, who had never held a job, would buy a bicycle, get her driver’s licence and seek work in the hospitality industry upon her release to help her stay out of trouble, the court was told.

Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan described her conduct as predominantly “property offending to feed a drug habit”.

She sentenced Kalotai to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for a period of 18 months after the 66 days on remand she has already served in a correctional centre, an order which would see her released today.

Kalotai was also placed on 12 months’ probation to aid her rehabilitation.

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