Chemist Warehouse thief walks free after ditching crutches in bold $1300 perfume grab

A woman who hobbled into Chemist Warehouse on crutches and stole more than $1300 worth of top-shelf perfumes before walking out unaided has avoided actual time in jail.

Katrina Shipp, 50, pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing after a previous conviction. Picture: File image

A woman who hobbled into Chemist Warehouse on crutches and was caught stealing more than $1300 of top-shelf fragrances and then walking out unaided, has avoided actual time in jail.

Katrina Shipp, 50, pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing after a previous conviction when she appeared before Cleveland Magistrate Deborah Vasta on Tuesday.

The court heard Shipp, who had previously spent two months in prison for stealing, had helped herself to more than $1400 in fragrances after three stealing sprees at Victoria Point’s Chemist Warehouse.

Police prosecutors told the court the first incident was in August last year when she brazenly walked in and out of the chemist and stole goods and perfumes totalling $158 without making any attempt to pay.

Seven months later, the court heard, she returned, to steal top-shelf perfumes, including a $509 bottle of Yves Saint Laurent, a $199 bottle of Giorgio Armani and a $149 bottle of Giorgio Armani along with body creams and face serums.

Prosecutors said she piled the goods, totalling $1333, into a basket before going to an empty aisle and transferring them into her handbag before leaving without paying.

Police said CCTV footage showed Shipp leaving the store without her crutches, putting the items into her car before briefly returning to the chemist to retrieve the crutches.

Shipp returned the next week and picked out a perfume called Burberry Goddess before the pharmacy manager recognised her and Shipp returned the fragrance before being escorted out of the shop.

Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani were some of the brands stolen from the Victoria Point Chemist Warehouse.

“She could not wear this much perfume – something is happening to all of these products and she could not possibly say it’s all for herself,” prosecutors said.

“The calculations behind these three thefts, … she can go in to a chemist take nearly $1300 of products, carries them out to her car and doesn’t need her crutch to do all of that.

“It’s so brazen and she’s picking particular things that the court often hears are being sold on Marketplace, Gum Tree and other places.”

Shipp’s lawyer told the court that she stole the items because she needed money to fix her car, which police said was contrary to her driving to and from the store.

Magistrate Vasta said the defendant had a substantial criminal history and that Chemist Warehouse “is not your ATM” and “not an income-producing asset for you”.

“You need to remember what it was like to sit in a women’s prison and that humility, that shame … and that’s where you’re getting back to.”

She handed her a three-month prison sentence wholly suspended for 12 months and recorded a conviction after taking into account the value of the goods and her guilty plea and ordered her pay restitution of $1476.

Originally published as Chemist Warehouse thief walks free after ditching crutches in bold $1300 perfume grab