Redcliffe mum pleads guilty after haul of stolen items found on her property
A mother-of-three has been sentenced for allowing her ‘fully-fledged criminal’ ex-partner to store a swath of stolen property at her home, including a piece of machinery worth a whopping $20,000.
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A 26-year-old Redcliffe mum has been sentenced after storing a variety of stolen property at her home worth more than $20,000.
Mickala Yvonne Edwards pleaded guilty to two charges of receiving tainted property, fraud and unlawful possession of suspected stolen property in Redcliffe Magistrates Court today.
Police Prosecutor Mike Ball told the court the property was uncovered during a search of Ms Edwards home on May 27.
During the search police found a red golf bag, black and white bike, an electrical device and a paving machine valued at $20,000.
It was stolen from a locked vehicle at Redcliffe Golf Course on May 20.
She was also sold a push bike, she claimed was hers, to Cash Converters for $140 on May 5.
The bike had been stolen from a Clontarf home between April 25 and 28.
Edwards’ lawyer, Mr Crawford, told the court her ex-partner, who had previously been convicted of break and enters and is in custody, had bought the property to her house.
She said the paving machine was in a storage container she had never been inside.
Magistrate Byrne said Edwards would have to be “deaf, dumb and blind to now know what was going on around her”.
He said he would refuse a submission from anyone who claimed the defendant was not aware that her ex-partner was a “fully fledged card carrying criminal”.
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The Magistrate said it was “bizarre” the defendant, who had no previous criminal history, had jumped straight to the “A-grade team”.
“She has entered with a bang, most people start with possession of a bag of pot or a bike or something, not a $20,000 machine plus these other things,” Magistrate Byrne said.
He highlighted that receiving stolen property was a more serious crime than stealing – with receiving having a maximum sentence of 10 years and stealing five.
Magistrate Byrne said despite it being a first offence this crime was “too big” to attract just a fine.
Edwards was sentenced to six months, suspended for 12 months, in relation to the receiving property suspected to be stolen charge.
She was convicted and not further punished in relation to the other three charges.
A conviction was recorded for the receiving charge but not the other three offences.
She was ordered to pay $140 restitution to Cash Converters.