What led her to slipping a pair of expensive pants into her bag and retreat without paying?
WHAT would compel an affluent woman to take something from a shop without paying? In the case of Sara Huegill, wife of Olympian Geoff, we will have to wait until her court date to discover.
Confidential
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News.
WHAT would compel an affluent woman to take something from a shop without paying? Some say it’s the quickening of the pulse and the danger.
Others claim women who shoplift are often motivated by a sense of entitlement following years of faithful patronage at a favourite store.
In the case of Sara Huegill, wife of Olympian Geoff, we will have to wait until her scheduled June 7 court date to discover what went on when she took a pair of $2500 Bassike leather pants from a Byron Bay boutique last Sunday — Mother’s Day.
What led to her slipping a pair of ludicrously expensive pants into her bag and making retreat without paying? Her lawyer said Huegill “deeply regrets the incident” which he called a “setback” to progress she has made with treatment for anxiety and depression.
Leather pants are certainly harder to hide in a bag than is a tiny bag of cocaine, which proved the couple’s undoing in 2014 when they were busted with the drug at Royal Randwick.
Huegill isn’t the first Australian celebrity to be stopped for taking goods without paying and you can bet she won’t be the last.
The 34-year-old finds herself in fine company with a group of women who are both richer and more famous than she is.
Sydney society was shocked in 1999 following the arrest of the then wife of Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris — a man whose face was everywhere at the time following the launch of his successful finance company Wizard in 1996.
The glamorous Katherine Bouris appeared before a Sydney court in 2000 on a charge of shoplifting. No conviction was recorded and the mother of three was let off with a 12-month good behaviour bond. Four years later Mark Bouris would sell Wizard for $400 million and months later he and Katherine would separate.
Six years on from their 2005 separation Katherine would escape conviction a second time when the 45-year-old was caught slipping an $89 dark blue Lacrosse dress into her handbag at David Jones in Bondi Junction in 2011.
Once again she pleaded not guilty and no charges were laid after Downing Centre Local Court heard Katherine was mentally impaired at the time of the theft and had also been suffering from lupus and arthritis.
Property records suggest the former wife of the multi-millionaire would not have been struggling financially at the time of the theft. She was living in a five-bedroom architect-designed Watsons Bay house that she sold in 2013 for $7 million.
Another whose behaviour shocked the nation was Dallas Hayden, the wife of one-time Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bill Hayden.
Mrs Hayden was arrested in 1987 for taking $66 worth of cosmetics from a city store but charges were dropped after medical records were produced showing Mrs Hayden, then about 54, frequently experienced “disorientation and memory loss”.
In the lead-up to Hayden being appointed governor-general in 1989, Mrs Hayden would say of
the incident, something her husband said they hadn’t shied from: “I didn’t try to hide it.”
But perhaps one who can best relate to Sara Huegill is Candice Alley, former wife of Olympic athlete Grant Hackett.
In 2012 the then newly estranged wife of swimming champion Hackett became the subject of police attention after the owner of a Melbourne children’s boutique, Buckets and Spades, alleged Alley had taken four items of children’s clothing from one of their stores on June 30 and five more items from a second store the following day.
The shop owner said among clothes was DKNY merchandise, tights and tops, and one Red Fly dress.
Victoria Police interviewed Alley after CCTV footage was obtained allegedly showing the mother of two seemingly caught in the act.
No charges were laid after shop owner Zlata Relin withdrew her statement following the reassurance Alley would reimburse her for the cost of the garments, worth $700.
According to psychologists, depression and the loneliness can often spur middle-aged women to shoplift, with women more likely to engage in the activity than men.
Sources close to the Huegills say the celebrity bubble burst for the couple with their arrest for cocaine possession in 2014.
Huegill, who was once celebrated for his butterfly stroke and Olympic career comeback, searched hard post-swimming career to find his professional niche.
Having worked initially as a motivational speaker, swimming coach and company director, his high-profile arrest apparently stymied professional options, as might be expected.
Last year he took a job with a pool cleaning company, a good honest gig that helps put a roof over the head of the couple’s two young daughters but probably doesn’t stretch to a pair of $2500 leather pants for Mother’s Day.