Infamous Illawarra criminal Belinda Van Krevel sentenced for Woolies magazine heist
The Illawarra criminal who ordered the murder of her own father has been sentenced for shoplifting after being caught red-handed on CCTV. Read the magistrate’s stern warning.
Illawarra Star
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One of the Illawarra’s most infamous figures Belinda Van Krevel, who orchestrated the murder of her father at the turn of the century, has been ordered to undertake community service.
Van Krevel previously pleaded guilty to entering an enclosed land without a lawful excuse and shoplifting of a value less than $2000 – the bounty in question being little more than a pineapple of magazines.
Documents tendered in court noted Van Krevel‘s “extensive criminal history” before detailing the 42-year-old’s latest offending.
In August, a loss prevention officer saw Van Krevel stealing eight magazines from Woolworths in Wollongong worth $51.30.
The magazines included two copies of Who, two copies of Women’s Day, two copies of New Idea and a copy of motor vehicle titles Street Machine and Just Cars.
Court documents detail how Van Krevel, seen tucking the magazines under her arm, became verbally aggressive when an officer confronted her.
Van Krevel was identified on the supermarket’s CCTV, with further inquiries revealing she had been served a two-year ban from the store in May this year.
The next day police attended her Church St, Wollongong address, where Van Krevel denied being the culprit, claiming she was “homesick at the time”.
In Wollongong Local Court on Monday, Magistrate Claire Girotto placed Van Krevel on a 12-month community correction order and ordered she complete 80 hours of unpaid work.
Magistrate Claire Girotto questioned Van Krevel‘s reason that she was “struggling” at the time of the theft, stating ”, these are magazines, not food”.
“You talk about how you’re struggling to make ends meet, which makes sense if you’re stealing food, but you can’t eat magazines,” she said before warning Van Krevel she was teetering on the edge of another spell behind bars.
“You’re getting quite a bit up your sleeve when it comes to stealing matters, and there will come a time when we need to send you in.”
Van Krevel, previously dubbed Belinda “van Evil’’, came to national prominence for her role in organising the murder of her father, Jack Van Krevel, in 2001.
Van Krevel was in the adjacent room in an Albion Park house with her then three-year-old daughter when her boyfriend Keith Schreiber hacked her father to death with a tomahawk.
The motive for Van Krevel wanting her father dead was the alleged violent upbringing of her serial killer brother, Mark Valera, who murdered former Wollongong mayor, Frank Arkell, and local shopkeeper, David O‘Hearn, in 1998.
Van Krevel served a six-year jail sentence for her involvement while Schreiber received a life sentence with a non-parole period of 12 years.
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