Lylley Lawson: Woman jailed over series of car thefts in Mildura

A young Mildura woman went on a rampage across northwest Victoria, stealing cars and stealing from them, before she smashed a brick over her friend’s head.

A Mildura thug has been jailed for her involvement in a criminal rampage across Mildura which saw two cars stolen and 11 vehicles stolen from.

Lylley Lawson, 20, was jailed for four months in the Mildura Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after she earlier pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to theft and recklessly causing injury.

Lawson stole multiple cars and committed a string of thefts across Mildura and surrounds.

She also hit a friend over the head with a brick while on bail.

The court heard Lawson was involved with a sizeable number of thefts from motor vehicles in a period of three months.

In December last year Lawson began the spree, stealing a wallet from a car and using the bank card to make hundreds of dollars worth of purchases.

A couple of days later her and her co-accused stole a car from a property in Mildura.

They used the vehicle to get around Mildura and steal from many other cars.

The victim of one of the stolen cars said in a statement the crime left her feeling “violated and stressed” and she was forced to cancel plans to see family and friends over Christmas because she was unable to get around without a car.

In January of this year, while out on bail for these offences, Lawson got into a physical altercation with a friend, using a brick to hit her victim over the head.

The victim required treatment at Mildura Base Public Hospital and Lawson’s bail was revoked.

The magistrate said it was disappointing Lawson had not used this opportunity to show the court she could change her behaviour.

“The court has no other option,” magistrate Coghlan said of her sentence.

Magistrate Coghlan also encouraged Lawson to “think about the impact” her actions had on others and he hoped at her young age she would “realise there are better things than going in and out of jail”.

Her co-accused, Steven Pappin, was denied bail over the offences and is due to reappear in court for sentencing in the coming days.