Bobbielee Margaret Dodd drove others to Toowoomba car wash from where another car was taken

The 25-year-old with a ‘dreadful’ criminal history was sentenced as a party to the carjacking. See what role she played:

Bobbielee Margaret Dodd, 25, was jailed for two and a half years after pleading guilty in Toowoomba District Court on February 23, 2024, to her role in a carjacking in Toowoomba on February 5, 2023.

A 25-year-old woman who acted as a getaway driver during a carjacking at a Toowoomba car wash has been jailed for two and a half years.

Bobbielee Margaret Dodd already had 14 pages of criminal history when she appeared in Toowoomba District Court via video link from the women’s prison to plead guilty to unlawful entry of a motor vehicle with intent at night and threatening violence while armed and in company.

Prosecutor Cameron Francis told the court the 74-year-old woman complainant had left her handbag in her Range Rover at a Toowoomba car wash about 7.30pm, February 5, 2023.

Dodd a short time later drove in beside the Range Rover and one of her associates alighted from that vehicle and took the handbag, he said.

Bobbielee Margaret Dodd, 25, pleaded guilty in Toowoomba District Court.

A short time later the group returned to the car wash with the keys to the Range Rover obtained from the handbag and drove away in the two cars, he said.

Staff at the car wash had been threatened by the group when trying to stop them taking the Range Rover, Mr Francis said.

The Range Rover was recovered by police without damage, he said.

Dodd was on parole at the time of this offence, meaning she could only be given a parole eligibility date and not a parole release date, he said.

Dodd’s barrister Steve Kissick said his client’s plea of guilty was an early one after the original charge of robbery was reduced.

Dodd had been remanded in custody on other matters and then charged with this offence some 28 days later, so an adjustment to the pre-sentence custody would have to be made, he said.

His client had an ice addiction and had been clean for a time but relapsed and committed this offence, he said.

While in custody, Dodd had connected with the Mara Project which would provide her support upon her release, Mr Kissick submitted.

Judge Paul Smith described Dodd’s 14-page criminal history as “dreadful”.

“If you stop using drugs you won’t be back in court or jail,” he told Dodd, urging her to see her doctor upon release and obtain a mental health plan to help her get away from drugs.

Telling her she was being sentenced as a party to the offence, Judge Smith sentenced Dodd to two and a half years in jail but, declaring 353 days of pre-sentence custody as time served under the sentence, ordered she be eligible to apply for parole forthwith.