Angela Lee Atkin stole credit cards from a City Centre Plaza customer

A former drug user who said she hadn’t been paid by her employer for three weeks resorted to stealing bank cards from a customer’s handbag.

A former drug user who told a court that she hadn’t been paid by her employer for three weeks resorted to stealing bank cards from a customer’s handbag.

Angela Lee Atkin, 33, pleaded guilty on September 15 in Rockhampton Magistrates Court to one count of failing to appear in court, one of stealing and five of dishonestly gain money.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Jennifer Leech said the victim had left her handbag in a shopping trolley near the front entrance of City Centre Plaza about 3.40pm on February 26, 2021.

She said Atkin, who was employed at the centre as a cleaner at the time, took cards from the handbag and placed them in a nappy bin.

Angela Lee Atkin, 33, pleaded guilty on September 15 in Rockhampton Magistrates Court to one count of failing to appear in court, one of stealing and five dishonestly gain money.

Atkin then used the cards at various shops, including Smokemart at Allenstown, Wandal supermarket and Puma service station on Wandal Road.

Atkin told the court she had not been paid for three weeks and her Centrelink payments had been stopped as her employer would not give her the relevant information to report to Centrelink.

“I worked every day of the week for the three weeks I worked there,” she said.

Atkin told the court she no longer used drugs and was now in stable accommodation.

“It was a very stupid mistake,” she said.

“I just believe a term of prison would send me back further than I have come now.”

Magistrate Cameron Press said it seemed, from her criminal record for the past few years, Atkin had worked to get her life back on track.

He sentenced her to nine months prison with immediate parole and to pay restitution $342.28.

Originally published as Angela Lee Atkin stole credit cards from a City Centre Plaza customer