Carlee Smedley: Mother sentenced after brazen crime spree through Illawarra
A Wollongong mum who beat up a fellow inmate while on remand for a string of crimes, including assaulting a taxi driver and stealing TVs from a store’s loading dock, has learned her fate.
Illawarra Star
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A Wollongong mother of two who beat up an inmate while on remand in custody for assaulting a taxi driver and a string of stealing offences has been spared more time behind bars.
Carlee Smedley appeared in Wollongong Local Court via video link where she became overcome by tears when Magistrate Claire Girotto sentenced her to a 12-month intensive corrections order.
The 42-year-old had pleaded guilty to 12 offences ranging across isolated incidents dating back to October; with the charges including three counts of common assault, three counts of shoplifting with a value of less than $2000, two counts of larceny, stealing from a person with a value of less than $2000, passenger interfere with driver’s control of vehicle, passenger’s seat belt not adjusted or fastened (over 16) and not wearing a fitted covering in a retail business premises.
The first set of offences occurred in the first week over October when Smedley, who is also known as Carlee Jones, was at Warrawong Plaza with her partner and co-offender Grant Petersen.
The pair weren’t wearing masks, during which time they were mandatory, as they entered the centre’s Coles Supermarket and stole several skin and hair products before exiting via the emergency fire escape.
A month later Smedley booked a taxi to take her from a Lake Illawarra address to her then home in Matthews Cres, Port Kembla.
She told the male cabbie she didn’t have the money to pay, however, offered up her phone as security while promising to retrieve some cash once they’d reached her place.
“I’m not a bad person,” Smedley told the taxi driver.
“I’m not saying you’re a bad person. The bad people make it worse for the good people,” he replied.
This agitated Smedley who yelled “Shut the f*** up. I don’t want to talk about it”.
The taxi driver received a call on his phone which he terminated, however, Smedley thought it was her phone, shouting “That’s my phone … Give me my phone”.
“No, I am not giving you the phone. When I get there you give me the money and I’ll give you your phone,” he said.
Smedley grabbed a cigarette from an unopened packet of Winfield Golds which rested on the dash, an argument ensued with the driver activating his duress alarm and detouring towards the taxi rank outside Warrawong Plaza.
“Where are you going? Take me home,” Smedley wailed before removing her seatbelt and leaning over the victim in an attempt to grab her phone while the taxi careered down Shellharbour Rd at 50km/h.
The driver stopped the taxi as he struggled with Smedley who tore his shirt and broke his reading glasses.
She eventually relented and they arrived at the taxi rank where she parted by saying “You f****** dog” as she started puffing on one of the victim’s Golds.
Police arrived a short time later and Smedley denied assaulting the cabbie, telling officers she was the one that had been assaulted, however, the entire incident was caught on the taxi’s CCTV.
In late January, Smedley confronted a woman on her doorstep in the Illawarra region with the argument spilling over onto her front yard.
Smedley, armed with a couple of syringes, started walking at the woman which led to the victim punching the accused in an act of self-defence.
Smedley then grabbed the victim’s hair and at the same time left scratches on the victim’s shoulder – which she believes was caused by one of the needles.
After the fracas, Smedley dropped the syringes and fled the scene.
On back-to-back Sundays at the end of February and the start of March, Smedley and Petersen took a carte blanche approach to shopping at Kmart in Figtree Grove.
On the first occasion, they knocked off two Everlast shirts, two Everlast hoodies and five duffle bags before returning a week later and loading a trolley with a candle oil set, a throw blanket and an assortment of bedding.
Both times the duo slid out the fire exit without paying with the total value of their thrived bounty, adding up to $581.
The crook couple stepped it up a notch on Saturday, May 14, when they drove a Kennards Hire rental ute into the loading dock of Harvey Norman at Warrawong before loading in two TCL 50 inch TVs and two Hisense 50 inch TVs – all four retailed at $695 for a total value of $2780.
Petersen, with Smedley in the passenger seat, drove the ute back to her new address on Church St, Wollongong where they began to unload the stolen TVs.
However, little did they know, the rented vehicle was fitted with a GPS and a Harvey Norman employee travelled to the address and sighted the TVs, including one which had already been unboxed and put on an entertainment unit.
The employee called the police who placed the pair under arrest with the TVs recovered by the retailer.
Petersen was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order in Wollongong Local Court last month for the charges of three counts of shoplifting with a value of less than $2000, entering an inclosed land or premises without a lawful excuse, larceny and not wearing a fitted covering in a retail business premises.
Petersen also copped a $250 fine for not disclosing the identity of a driver or passenger.
While in custody, four days before she was to be sentenced alongside Petersen, Smedley assaulted another inmate at the Dillwynia Women’s Correctional Centre.
The two were in a common room when Smedley approached the other woman about some items that had gone missing from her cell.
The woman started walking away when Smedley pushed her over and started punching her in the back of the head.
The victim managed to get up, but Smedley continued to punch her before fellow inmates were able to intervene.
In court on Tuesday, Smedley’s lawyer Aaron Kernaghan said his client had “a lot of emotional baggage she needs to unpack” and explained to Ms Girotto she’d been caught in a cycle of domestic violence and drug abuse.
Smedley was “proud” to tell the court she’d been clean from drugs for 11 weeks and was intent on keeping it that way.
“Your record is not the worst, but you’ve reached a point in your life where you need to sort it out,” Ms Girotto said.
“You’ve come from a domestic violence situation, you were spiralling out of control, but you seem under control.”
Smedley was also handed a $100 fine for not paying the taxi fare and she will have to compensate the taxi driver $130 for the damage to his shirt and glasses.
Ms Girotto also ordered that she reimburse Kmart $581 for the stolen goods.
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