Gold Coast cheerleader Taylor McKinley fined $500 in Southport Magistrates Court
A Gold Coast Instagram influencer has been fined for a series of crimes at Burleigh Heads. READ THE FULL STORY
Police & Courts
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AN Instagram-influencer cheerleader who represented Australia on the world stage has been fined $500 for crimes committed when rooftopping at a Burleigh Heads apartment building.
Taylor Mckinley, 23, pleaded guilty to trespass, wilful damage to a lift, and burglary in the Southport Magistrates Court on Monday.
The offences occurred on September 30 and October 1 last year.
Mckinley’s solicitor Michael Gatenby, of Gatenby Criminal Lawyers, told the court a man, whom she had met a week earlier, was the main offender.
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“This is a tragic situation for my client to find herself in,” Mr Gatenby said.
“She was lured to the location on the basis that they were going to engage in an activity known as rooftopping, which is effectively where you go to the top of a tall building and take photographs of yourself observing the panoramic skyline.
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“It’s perhaps such a popular enterprise that in fact the government has criminalised that activity.
“She says that in the course of doing that the co-accused started to commit other offences and it’s clear that she’s a party to his offending and she accepts that.”
Mckinley has over 11,000 followers on Instagram. Her profile bio states: “No one is you and that is your power”.
The court heard Mckinley had represented the country on four occasions at global cheerleading competitions.
Mr Gatenby said she struggled with mental health problems which she was receiving help for.
No conviction was recorded.
Mckinley declined to comment outside of court.
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