Peta McNiece pleads guilty to pinching mixed drinks, says NDIS gives her ‘no support’
A Dandenong woman who gets more from the NDIS than some hospo workers are paid wants to stay in jail after pleading guilty to stealing booze from BWS and Dan Murphy’s.
South East
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A woman on a $66k a year NDIS plan has asked a suburban court to keep her locked up because it was easier to turn her life around “from the inside”.
Peta McNiece on Thursday told Frankston Magistrates Court she would prefer more jail time after pleading guilty to a string of thefts from liquor outlets across southeast Melbourne.
The 43-year-old Dandenong woman, who has already been in custody for 53 days, sobbed as she explained to Magistrate Gerard Bryant why she wanted to stay behind bars.
“I need to come up with a plan for the outside … it’s easier to do that on the inside,” she said.
McNiece said despite receiving $66,000 from the NDIS each year she had “no support” from the service, including when her father died several years ago.
“I never got any support for that,” she said.
“I had to deal with it on my own … I never had any counselling for that.”
Ms McNiece gave police a variety of reasons for stealing mixed drinks and spirits from Dan Murphy’s and BWS shops in Frankston, Mornington and Mulgrave including “it was a cry for help” and she “couldn’t be bothered paying”.
She explained to Mr Bryant that prior to her father’s death her parents paid her rent.
“Then my Dad died and I was on my own,” she said.
The court heard the former aged care worker had bounced from rooming houses to a caravan park and also began using crystal methamphetamine or ice.
Mr Bryant was baffled by McNiece’s predicament given her “large” NDIS plan and disability support pension.
The maximum disability rate for a single person over 21 is $1140.40 per fortnight including an $83 supplement and $14.10 energy supplement.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed the median annual salary in Australia was $65,000 in 2022.
According to Seek front of house hospitality workers were paid an average of $60,000 a year, or $35 an hour.
Mr Bryant questioned how McNiece had achieved a certificate 3 in aged care when she was diagnosed with an intellectual disability while still at primary school.
The court heard McNiece’s disability support pension was now managed by State Trustees and she struggled with the lack of autonomy over her money.
Her lawyer told the court Ms McNiece did not trust the NDIS.
Mr Bryant said a previous attempt at a community corrections order had failed.
He sentenced McNiece to four months jail minus the 52 days she had served since being taken into custody on August 20 and another single day she spent locked up in June.
“Had you not plead guilty, which I am regarding as showing remorse, the sentence would have been six months,” he said.
McNiece thanked Mr Bryant and said she hoped to go fruit picking in Mildura when she was released.
She also planned to go to VCAT to regain control of her disability support pension.