BAN ME FROM SHOPS, THIEF TELLS MAGISTRATE:
Shut the door on me, says shoplifter
A SERIAL shop thief has pleaded with a magistrate to ban her from every shopping centre in Geelong.
Amber Dawkins, 33, made the unusual request after she landed herself in custody over a series of brazen thefts.
Geelong Magistrates Court on Wednesday heard Dawkins was arrested this week after stealing items worth hundreds of dollars from a supermarket.
Prosecutor Senior-Constable Craig Williams said police were called to the Coles supermarket on High Street, Belmont, after Dawkins left the store on Tuesday without paying for a trolley full of goods.
Dawkins had been wandering through the supermarket for almost half an hour before she made off with the items, worth $480.
The store’s manager followed Dawkins outside and watched her place the goods in a car before driving away.
The court heard police were easily able to link Dawkins to the crime after she left a handbag in the trolley.
Constable Williams said the bag contained Dawkins’ personal identification.
Police also found a large number of shopping bags when they went to Dawkins’ home in Newcomb on Tuesday afternoon.
Dawkins was taken into custody because at the time she was on bail for similar offending.
The court heard Dawkins was discovered on June 12 stealing from a Myer store in Melbourne’s CBD.
When police arrested her then she was found in possession of pliers.
Dawkins was granted bail on Wednesday after pleading guilty to multiple counts of shop theft and a single charge of going equipped to steal.
After magistrate Peter Mellas announced his decision to grant bail, Dawkins urged him to include a condition that prevented her attending local shopping malls.
“Can you please ban me from every shopping centre in Geelong?” she said.
But Mr Mellas declined to impose the condition.
He granted Dawkins bail on her own undertaking, saying: “If you think going to the shops is going to get you into trouble, don’t go to the shops.”
Dawkins will be sentenced on September 22.