Drug addict Mornington Peninsula mother of six smoked ice, stole stepfather’s gun to feed addiction

A mother once told her daughter to “keep playing Minecraft” when the girl witnessed her stealing a rifle to sell in a bid to fund her ice addiction. But the woman has since made a miraculous decision that saw her turn her life around.

A woman has avoided jail after stealing her stepfather’s gun at Hastings. Picture: Generic

A mother of six stole a rifle from her stepfather’s Hastings shed in a bid to fund her ice addiction, a court has heard.

And Alana Reed, 31, told her eight-year-old daughter to “keep playing Minecraft” when the child witnessed her taking the 3030 Winchester rifle as well as ammunition, cartridges and a hunting crossbow from her stepfather’s safe between January 16 and March 17, 2017.

Reed, then 28, was living with her four of her children, her mother and stepfather at the Hastings address when she took the weapon which was quickly sold to crims operating in the Frankston region.

Her child told her grandmother what she had seen, with police quickly swooping in and arresting Reed in Pearcedale where she was found with ice and cannabis stashed in her handbag.

“(The rifle) also found its way into the hands of two offenders … culminat(ing) in a dangerous recovery by police,” County Court Judge Trevor Wraight said.

Reed, who had no criminal history, gave birth to her first child at 19 but started abusing drugs heavily following the death of her boyfriend to an overdose in 2015.

But after having two more children after the Hastings incident, Reed transformed her life, getting clean before moving into a new home with a new partner in 2018.

Her boyfriend and father of her youngest child said Reed was “open about her past” and had gone from “strength to strength” while admitting the crimes were triggered by her lifestyle at her previous home.

The pair, who now live with Reed’s two youngest children, are saving for a new house with Reed enrolled in an online veterinary nursing course.

Mr Wraight said the case had been delayed due to complications after the matter was incorrectly listed in the Magistrates Court.

“Since you have moved away from the Frankston area where you were involved in your previous lifestyle you have changed your life completely,” Mr Wraight said.

“You do not mix with any of the old associates associated with drug use and clearly you’re settled into a stable relationship with a positive future.”

Reed pleaded guilty and was convicted of theft and possess drug of dependence and was placed on a two-year community corrections order.

She was ordered to pay $500 for the drug charge and must also complete 150 hours of community work.

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