NSW mums behaving badly: The mothers who found themselves on the wrong side of the law
From drink-driving to attempted murder – these mums have found themselves on the wrong side of the law and in front of a magistrate.
Newcastle
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From a mother-of-four who supplied methamphetamine in Coles bags, to a mum who violently beat a taxi driver because of a song on the radio, and the woman who took her toddler on a high-speed police chase.
They are a far-cry from the doting mothers we’ve come to expect.
Here are some NSW’s most mischievous mums to front the courts.
TAXI ASSAULT MUM: NATALEE FOX
Two bottles of wine with a work friend led to a night a single mother-of-two from Kurnell would rather forget.
Natalee Fox, 45, was convicted of assaulting and intimidating a male taxi driver, fare evasion and assaulting police, but said she “blacked out” and couldn’t remember the chain of events on August 16, 2018.
Fox’s lawyer told the court she accepted the taxi driver’s account that she cried about a sad song on the radio and asked him to switch it off before calling him a “pathetic loser”.
Fox then noticed the $115 fare from a Circular Quay bar to her former Kirrawee home and refused to pay.
Court documents said the taxi driver locked the doors and asked Fox to pay what she could, before she stated she was going to call family members and “if they come here they will kill you”.
According to the documents, Fox then grabbed the taxi driver’s steering wheel with both hands and attempted to pull it before he stopped the car and called police.
At that point, Fox struck him in the left ear with her hand and began to scratch at his clothes.
The documents said the furious tirade continued at the police station, with Fox pushing a male officer in the chest causing him to stumble, and kicking a perspex screen “30 to 50 times”.
Magistrate Glenn Bartley rejected a submission Fox’s past treatment for breast cancer and prescription medication use had significantly influenced her alcohol-affected demeanour.
She was fined $400 for the fare evasion, ordered to compensate the driver $115 and sentenced to a conditional release order for 12 months.
DRINK DRIVING MUM: LISA KNOX
A Fernances Creek mum who lost control of her unregistered car while drink driving and crashed into a brick wall was on her P-plates at the time.
Lisa Knox was driving on Mona Vale Rd, Pymble about 2am on March 26 last year, when her car began sliding as she attempted to change lanes.
Court documents said the 21-year-old lost control of her vehicle and drove over a median strip onto the wrong side of the road, before crashing into a brick wall.
The rear end of the car hit a power pole, knocking down its lines.
An ambulance that happened to be passing by took Knox to Hornsby Hospital where she was treated for minor injuries.
She returned a blood and urine reading of 0.132.
Knox’s lawyer Sal Sapupo told the court his client was a single mother to a two-year-old, and on a single parent pension.
Mr Sapupo said Knox needed her licence as she had since relocated from Sydney to a rural part of the Hunter Valley.
But Magistrate Louside McManus blasted Knox’s actions as “reckless”.
“You have your mother here sitting and supporting you in court,” Mr McManus said.
“You were very lucky you weren’t seriously injured and killed.
“Your mother is assisting you, she could need to look after your little one.
“That’s why the penalties are so severe.”
Knox was disqualified from driving for five months and received a community corrections order for 12 months with a conviction.
She was ordered to undertake interlock and forced to pay $700 in fines.
BLACKMAILING MUM: CHEREE TURNER
A Central Coast mum who extorted almost $1 million from a businessman, while threatening to accuse him of rape if he didn’t pay, was jailed for her crime.
Cheree Louise Turner pleaded guilty to eight blackmail offences, including demand with menace by accusation that person has committed serious indictable offence, between August 25, 2016 and October 27, 2017.
Seven other charges of demand with menace to obtain a gain were taken into consideration during her sentencing.
Her victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was the principal of an accountancy firm and paid Turner $993,845 over 15 months.
Court documents revealed Turner, who was 29 at the time, and the man had formed an online relationship before the threats began.
At one point Turner had signed an agreement to cease the demands if the victim paid her $10,000 – but the threats continued after payment.
A court heard the offending only stopped because one of the victim’s employees reported the matter to police.
During sentencing in Judge Tanya Bright said the offences were a “sustained and vicious campaign against the victim lasting 15 months which had very significant detrimental consequences to his life”.
Ms Bright took into consideration that Turner was a single mother, had a limited criminal history, a psychiatric condition and was unlikely to reoffend.
Turner was sentenced to 10 years’ jail with a non-parole period of six years and six months.
She later attempted to appeal the sentence but was knocked back, with her non-parole period upheld until 2026.
DRUG RING MUM: SUSAN WAKELING
An unemployed mother-of-four was jailed for her part in an “ice ring” using Coles shopping bags to distribute the drug around the Central Coast.
Susan Margaret Wakeling was stopped by police on The Entrance Rd, The Entrance on June 27, 2019, after officers noticed her driving too close to another car and at a slow speed.
Court documents said the 38-year-old initially told officers she had a migraine and was driving to have a break from her children.
Police searched the car after smelling cannabis and found a large sum of money and four resealable bags with white powder – later identified as 1.34g of methamphetamine – inside her handbag.
The documents said she told police, “that’s mine, you’ll find some more stuff in the back”.
Officers also located 445.3g of cannabis.
The documents said prior to the vehicle stop, Strike Force Lamprey had been intercepting phone calls between Wakeling and others involved in the drug ring.
She was one of nine people charged.
Wakeling was originally sentenced to 18 months’ jail with a non-parole period of 11 months and 21 days, but had her non-parole period reduced to eight months on appeal.
ATTEMPTED MURDER MUM: SHARON YARNTON
A Menai mother-of-two went from prison guard to prisoner when she was convicted of attempting to kill her ex-husband by setting his car alight.
Sharon Yarnton enlisted friends Fady Houda, Monique Hayes and Anthony Mouhtaris to help set Dean Yarnton’s Nissan Navara on fire as he slept in it after a boozy dinner with friends.
A court heard the 53-year-old was enraged when she discovered he had begun a new relationship a year before their marriage ended in 2014.
Yarnton and Hayes texted back and forth before Houda and Mouhtaris attended a car park where the man had finished dinner, doused the ute in petrol and attempted to set it alight.
Mr Yarnton called triple-zero before confronting his ex-wife, who was hiding in nearby bushes.
Judge Jane Culver described Yarnton’s potentially deadly scheme as “amateurish”.
“Had the plan been successful in burning the victim alive, it would have been excruciating,” Ms Culver said.
Yarnton was sentenced to 16 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 10 years.
Houda and Mouhtaris were both sentenced to at least seven-and-a-half years in jail, with a maximum sentence of 11-and-a-half years.
Hayes will spend at least four years behind bars, with a maximum sentence of six years.
HOUSE FIRE MUM
A single mum from Illawarra mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed after her house caught fire when she left her three children home alone to spend the weekend with her boyfriend.
According to court documents, the woman left her two younger children, a two-year-old girl and a four-month-old boy, in the care of her 12-year-old daughter for 33 hours while she went to stay with her new boyfriend of just three weeks.
The eldest child was expected to cook, clean and care for her younger siblings, including feeding and changing the baby.
About 10.30pm on Sunday, March 3, 2019, the 12-year-old girl started cooking a meal on the stove but fell asleep on the lounge with her brother when she went to check on him.
The cooktop caught alight and fire spread around the kitchen, melting plastic items and releasing noxious smoke, that the sleeping children inhaled.
About 2am, the home’s smoke alarm sounded, with neighbours calling triple-zero before rushing inside and finding the children with black soot marks visible around their mouths and noses.
Police were unable to reach the woman for some hours, with her later telling officers her phone had gone flat.
She was charged with three counts of failing to provide for a charge causing danger of death, to which she pleaded guilty, and was jailed for 20 months with a non-parole period of six months.
REVENGE PORN MUM: JENNIFER GANDER
A Sutherland mum who posted naked pictures of her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend on an Instagram account pretending to be that of an adult shop also threatened her victim for weeks.
Court documents showed Jennifer Gander repeatedly texted the woman pictures and videos of herself along with vile comments.
“Just so you know the s**t will be beaten out of you … end of story skank,” Gander wrote, according to the documents.
“You are disgusting, sneaky, rude, disrespectful and just pathetic … enjoy your sex toys they will be the last gift you ever get.”
The 44-year-old “actively avoided police” but was arrested after tormenting her victim for seven weeks in July and August 2019.
The revenge porn ruse was uncovered when her ex-partner stormed into the adult store where Gander used to work, asking why the intimate images of his new girlfriend were on their Instagram.
A worker showed the man the account was fake, and pointed him to a second account Gander used to post a graphic image of the victim.
Gander pleaded guilty to 10 charges including distributing intimate images, using a carriage service to menace or harass, and intimidation.
MERCEDES MUM: MARGARITA TOMOVSKA
A high fashion-loving Caringbah mum who led police on a 232km/hr pursuit on the Princes Hwy in her Mercedes AMG, while her three-year-old daughter was in the back seat, tried to fundraise $100,000 to pay her legal fees.
Strike Force Raptor officers had attempted to stop Margarita Tomovska’s $450,000 car on November 13, 2018, on intelligence a man she was travelling may have firearms in the vehicle.
A court heard the 28-year-old was “scared” of the man who had pressured her into the 10km chase.
Police were shocked to find the child in the car when they eventually pulled over the Mercedes.
Police prosecutor Amelia Wall told the court Tomovska had shown “the opposite” of remorse.
“She has relished the attention, skylarking on social media, playing the victim with a GoFundMe titled Fight Raptor asking for $100,000 for her legal fees while floating about spending thousands on clothing on her social media,” Ms Wall said.
Magistrate Susan McGowan said the offence warranted time behind bars.
“Cars are lethal, lethal weapons,” Ms McGowan said.
“You may as well be shooting bullets from a gun because if you hit somebody, it’s going to be fatal.”
Tomovska was found guilty of a police pursuit and exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h and sentenced to 18 months in prison and a two-year driving disqualification.
The male passenger was not charged over the incident.
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