Tragic mugshot exposes drug-addled Sydney real estate agent’s spiral
An Instagram model who has spent time in NSW’s toughest prison has been jailed again after she was caught with someone’s ID.
A former modelling entrepreneur and real estate agent from Sydney’s affluent northern beaches has been jailed for a string of crimes, including bizarrely possessing another person’s ID with an intent to commit fraud.
Monique Agostino’s lengthy criminal record and troubled past was aired in court before she was once again sentenced to prison, nearly three years after she was sent to NSW’s toughest women’s jail.
Police had put a whopping 15 warrants out for the 28-year-old’s arrest in the past four years, Sutherland Local Court heard.
She was sentenced on Thursday to nine months imprisonment with a five-month non-parole period after pleading guilty to possessing ID to commit an indictable offence — being fraud, larceny, drug possession, drug-driving, goods in custody suspected of being stolen and driving an unregistered, uninsured car while disqualified.
The court heard her spiral into drug use worsened when she lost her licence and could no longer work as a real estate agent.
Her Legal Aid lawyer told the court Agostino had “loads of potential” and was studying an online e-commerce course.
“She’s relatively young... although she’s clocked up a lot of miles in life in many ways,” he said of the mum-of-one.
“If you speak to her directly, you’d be impressed. She’s an intelligent individual who has used her abilities for criminal (reasons) instead of constructive reasons… that’s not to say it will always be that way.”
Reading from a psychological report, Magistrate Hugh Donnelly said Agostino was using amphetamines weekly up until her arrest and said Legal Aid’s proposed conditions for a community-based sentence would not address her drug problem.
“More than 10 warrants have been executed since 2019,” Magistrate Donnelly said, adding she had a record of not showing up to court.
“She is a persistent offender when it comes to driving while disqualified — it’s at least the third time she’s come to court for that”.
While the Legal Aid lawyer admitted her poor record showed a “determined thumbing of the nose at the law,” he said “we’re all a work in progress”.
Appearing via audio-visual link, Agostino pleaded with the court to let her “have some words,” but Magistrate Donnelly reminded her of her legal representation before sentencing her to full-time custody.
The former amateur model — whose hair was now dip-dyed purple — put her head in her hands as she was sentenced.
In September 2020, Agostino was handed a two-year sentence at the notorious Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre, with a minimum of 18 months.
She’d pleaded guilty to a series of bizarre masked robberies, drug offences, shoplifting and having a knife in a Target store.
Her life began spiralling out of control in 2018, when the then-22-year-old drove several teenage male youths to burglaries they committed on Sydney’s north shore.
Agostino and the boys donned black masks and prised open, or attempted to jemmy, doors using a chisel.
Caught on CCTV, Agostino broke into the Pound of Pizza restaurant at Killarney Heights early on November 6, 2018.
She later appealed the sentence’s severity and was released on bail in early 2020.
Got a story? Email clare.sibthorpe@news.com.au