Mum fined for burglary

A FORMER manager of Geelong’s Polish club says the pressure of running the business was partly to blame for her breaking into a home under construction.

In December 2016, Jodie Armstrong forced her way into the home through a smashed window and stole an oven and dishwasher.

Detectives were able to trace the crime back to the mother of two through a fingerprint she left at the Armstrong Creek scene.

The Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday heard the 35year-old had managed the Polish-linked White Eagle House in Breakwater alongside her mother, but lost the business and her family home before turning to drugs.

Prosecutor Senior Constable Geoff Lamb said Armstrong told officers investigating the burglary her actions were “sheer stupidity”.

Despite the offence occurring more than two years ago, she was not arrested until last Sunday.

The court heard while it was likely Armstrong had an accomplice during the break- in, no one else had been charged in connection with the crime.

She pleaded guilty to the burglary charge yesterday, along with separate charges of driving an unregistered car and fraudulent use of number plates.

Her lawyer said the single mother had struggled with running her own business before she lost the lease.

An online article from March 2014 shows Armstrong was also head chef at White Eagle House and first started working for the business when she was 14.

Her lawyer said Armstrong was no longer using ice and was focused on her third child, due in April.

“Her behaviour has been stupid. She doesn’t shy away from that,” the lawyer said.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan fined Armstrong $2000 and suspended her driver’s licence for 10 days.

“You were obviously caught up in a situation where you were involved with the use of drugs,” he said.

“But it’s pretty nasty if you’re trying to build your home and you see things stolen or not where they’re meant to be.”