Brigette Rowe: Frankston mall burglar’s $4k make-up theft spree
A counter-jumping burglar was all made up after stealing a trolley load of cosmetics from kiosks at a closed shopping mall.
South East
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A burglar broke into Bayside Shopping Centre kiosks and stole make-up and cotton balls worth nearly $4000, a court has heard.
Brigette Rowe said she nicked a shopping trolley full of cosmetic items from small stalls inside the Frankston mall because she needed money to buy food.
The homeless 39-year-old pleaded guilty to burglary, bail and court order breach charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The court heard at 10pm on April 10 this year Rowe broke into a cosmetics kiosk and stole a large number of premium make-up items.
She used a trolley to ferry the ill-gotten goods, worth a total of $3978, into the carpark and away from the scene.
She had also hit another kiosk just before, but nothing was stolen in that crime.
Two weeks later Rowe burgled a third stall at the same mall, with a selection of cotton balls and other related items of an unknown value taken in that raid.
All the thefts had been captured on CCTV and Rowe was quickly identified as the culprit due to her long criminal history.
She was on bail and a corrections order and under a night curfew at the time.
When she was arrested on June 23 she told police she didn’t remember doing the burglaries, but if she did, she did them because she was hungry.
Defence lawyer Brett Barratt said his client was living rough in the Frankston area and had a poly substance abuse problem.
He said she had limited access to money and accommodation, and stole to provide cash for food, alcohol and drugs.
He said while the crimes were technically burglaries they were at the lower end of the scale and “in effect they were glorified thefts” where she had simply “jumped counters” and took what she could.
Magistrate Timothy Gattuso said while he accepted these offences were different to residential burglaries, they were still serious thefts.
He sent Rowe for a community corrections order assessment, but warned her she may have to do more time behind bars before she would be released.
She was remanded in custody and will face court again on July 28.
