Tracy Lee Dale: ‘Compulsive’ thief sentenced for firing petrol at police

An Illawarra woman who squirted petrol at a police officer after threatening to set him on fire has faced court. Find out her punishment for the “reckless” crime.

A mother of five who sprayed a police officer with petrol after threatening to set him alight in the Illawarra last year has avoided being put behind bars.

Tracy Lee Dale, a former tobacconist, committed the “compulsive and reckless” crime that occurred at a Windang servo while police were trawling through hundreds of dollars worth of stolen items in the back of her white Hyundai Excel.

The 43-year-old was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court for assaulting a police officer in the execution of their duty, resisting or hinder police to incite another to assault, resist or hinder police, intimidate a police officer in execution of their duty without causing actual bodily harm, be in possession of unlawfully obtained goods and larceny which stemmed back to the incident on February 2, 2021.

Dale also faced charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, having goods in custody suspected to be stolen, entering enclosed land without a lawful excuse and two counts of shoplifting a value less than $2000 – which all occurred while she was on bail for her shocking police assault.

The incident which police described as “nothing short of appalling” kicked off after they noticed Dale driving her Excel in Windang, but a routine rego check revealed the plates belonged to a red Suzuki panel van and a no. 3 had been shaded into a no. 8 with a sharpie.

Police pulled her over at Sunset Petroleum on Windang Rd and when asked about the makeshift number plate she told them she “didn’t know” about it.

The passenger in the vehicle had an outstanding warrant and was arrested without incident, however, police noticed a pile of unopened items in the back which Dale said had been gifted to her for Christmas by her nan.

The eclectic collection of items included a Review handbag, a hair waver, Panasonic telephones, a Nike backpack, a H&M shirt, a snorkel set, two dream catchers, Thin Lizzie skin treatment, Freeze Frame wrinkle block, perfume, a printer, and the most expensive item, a karaoke machine valued at nearly $200.

Illawarra woman Tracy Lee Dale fronted Wollongong Local Court on Friday. Picture: Facebook

Police also found a Medicare card, a pensioner card and a Commonwealth Bank card in the name of three different people.

She was asked if she’d been to Stockland Shellharbour that day and she said no despite being in possession of a Coles Shellharbour receipt from a few hours earlier.

When asked about the printer, she told police her nan had given it to her “ages ago” though the box had a shipping label indicating it had only arrived at Kmart Shellharbour a week prior.

Dale puffed on a cigarette while screaming at police “I’m going to take the bowser and douse the whole car in flames, you’re trying to ruin my life” as they searched the car.

“Those are my kids’ clothes, you can’t take them you dogs,” she continued before walking to a bowser and aiming it at an officer.

She pulled the trigger causing unleaded petrol to spurt out and given police knew she was in possession of a lighter, she was tackled to the ground.

Dale was conveyed to Lake Illawarra Command where 0.3 grams of meth were found in her bra and when she was asked about the cards in the names of other people she replied “no comment”.

CCTV footage was seized of Dale as Stockland Shellharbour earlier at that day where she was taking advantage of a five-finger discount at multiple outlets.

Tracy Lee Dale pilfered from a range of retailers at Stockland Shellharbour. Picture: Supplied

On an evening three weeks later, while on bail for her manic behaviour, she pulled into the Metro Service Station on Murray Rd in East Corrimal.

She put 10 litres of petrol onto her card and grabbed a bottle of coke out of the fridge, however, when she went to pay for it her card declined.

The attendant asked how she would pay and she started to scream abuse before sitting in her car, next to the bowser, for two hours before driving off.

In April, police attended a “situation” on Kendall St, Tarrawanna where they saw Dale exit a hired white Toyota Corolla before returning five minutes later.

Police questioned her, but she screeched “You have no right to stop me”.

They ignored her quasi legal advice and searched the car, which had three other occupants and found a Commonwealth Bank card, a St George Visa debit card, a NSW Licence and a letter from NAB – all featured different names.

“I found them on the street,” Dale lied.

“I kept them so no one else would use them because I‘ve been the victim of fraud before.”

She told police she “didn’t know” why she didn’t hand them in.

Tracy Lee Dale was sentenced to an intensive corrections order. Picture: Facebook

Dale’s crime spree continued on Wednesday, May 19 in Fairy Meadow when she nicked a soft drink, flavoured milk, candles, batteries, confectionery and sanitary items from Coles.

The total value was $77.15 and when plain-clothed loss prevention officers confronted her she lost the plot before they realised she was currently serving a 12-month ban from all Coles stores for an incident at Coles Shellharbour in July, 2020.

The items were retrieved, but less than an hour later Dale was a few hundred metres up the road at Woolworths where she put two 30 packs of Ferrero Rocher in her bag.

She picked up a couple of other items, including a magazine, which she paid for, but opted not to pay for the $40 Italian chocolates.

Loss prevention officers tried to stop her, but she jumped into a white van with an unknown male and made her escape.

In court on Friday, Magistrate Claire Girotto said the crime was “compulsive and reckless”.

However she acknowledged the offences happened in the wake of an eviction and that Dale was a “person previously of good character” when sentencing her to an eight-month intensive corrections order.

Dale was also handed a two-year community corrections order, banned from driving for three months and instructed to complete 100 hours of community service and pay a $100 fine for the dodgy number plate.