Theresa Ann Welsh in Rockhampton Magistrates Court for stealing

A grandmother-of-13’s purse and grocery thefts and fuel drive-offs worth $6500 has been described by a shocked magistrate as “appalling”.

Theresa Welsh.

A mother of five and grandmother of 13 has found herself before court on more than 30 stealing offences she committed between Rockhampton and South East Queensland, a court has heard.

Rockhampton Magistrates Court heard Theresa Ann Welsh, 48, committed the spate of 35 dishonesty offences between March 2022 and May 2024, with 10 of the dishonesty offences committed in June and July 2023.

One of the 32 stealing charges involved stealing groceries from Woolworths at Sunnybank Hills in Brisbane on June 21, 2023.

However, the court heard a majority of the stealing charges were fuel drive offs.

Police prosecutor Brendon Selic said one of the fuel drive offs involved Welsh pumping 27.09L of unleaded fuel worth $50.09 into her car at the Seabreeze Servo and Takeaway on the Scenic Highway in Lammermoor on July 17, 2023, and driving away without paying.

Mr Selic said Welsh told police two days later on July 19, 2023, she didn’t have any money to pay for fuel that day.

He said her stealing totalled about $6500.

“The sheer volume of offending is what makes this concerning,” he said.

Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale described Welsh’s offending as “appalling”.

Mr Selic said he would be seeking $1000 restitution for a handbag Welsh stole in May.

He said the $1000 were for the items in the handbag, particularly a mobile phone.

Defence lawyer Jess King said Welsh’s offences were born out of a lack of financial means.

Ms King said her client was the carer for her partner who suffered burns to a large portion of his body in an incident about March 2021.

“As a result of that incident he has ongoing physical issues and has a brain injury,” she said.

“He has undergone 17 surgeries as a result of that incident.

“The bulk of the offences which are generally in 2023 occurred when Ms Welsh was in Brisbane supporting her partner through hospital stays.

“It is all opportunistic, very unsophisticated.

“It is fuel drive offs and taking of groceries and the handbag.”

Ms King said Welsh had been on a Centrelink benefit and was also a carer for her mother, who had passed away.

“Her Centrelink benefit was reduced and as a result she found it incredibly difficult to get by on that pension alone while being uprooted by her partner’s ongoing medical needs,” she said.

The mother of five children and 13 grandchildren has been addicted to drugs since she was 14 but has been clean for eight years, Ms King said.

Welsh suffers from anxiety and had felt a decline in her mental health during the period of offending and had sought some assistance, the court heard.

Welsh pleaded guilty to 32 counts of stealing, four counts of breaching bail conditions, three counts of driving without a licence, two counts of fraud, and one count each of unauthorised dealing with shop goods and driving an unregistered vehicle.

Ms Beckinsale ordered Welsh to probation for two years.

Welsh was also fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

She was ordered to pay $1000 restitution.

Convictions were recorded.

Originally published as Theresa Ann Welsh in Rockhampton Magistrates Court for stealing