’Gift from stranger’ to blame for card spree
A GEELONG woman who was “fuelled by alcohol” when she used a stolen credit card to buy liquor and cigarettes, tried to defend herself by telling police she was handed the bank card by a stranger at McDonald’s.
Mandy White, of no fixed address, went to bottle shops and service stations across Geelong in late May 2020 and made a number of purchases using the stolen card, including to buy alcohol, cigarettes, soft drinks and credit for her phone.
When busted early the next month, White told officers she knew it was the wrong thing, “but had no money and wanted cigarettes”.
White pleaded guilty to theft offences and to possessing a drug of dependence in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Police told the court that White claimed she had been given the stolen bank card by an unknown male in a McDonald’s restaurant the same day.
The card’s owner reported it stolen when he noticed it missing from his car, which had been parked at the Corio soccer club.
A month earlier, White was picked up by officers at the Geelong train station after reports from staff that she was “extremely intoxicated”.
Police found her slurring her words and had to call ambulance to assess her, given her extreme level of intoxication.
While placing her in the cells later, police found a folded piece of paper containing Lyrica, a prescription drug for nerve damage.
The mother of three also pleaded guilty to entering a Liquorland in October 2021 and walking out with a pack of Smirnoff cans.
She handed herself in to police officers and told them that while she knew the offending was “wrong”, she was “an alcoholic again”.
Her defence lawyer, Rangi Vickers, said her story “is an unfortunate one” that started with an addiction to heroin.
Mr Vickers said White eventually “decided drugs weren’t the way” and made steps to stop using the drug of dependence, but instead turned to alcohol.
The offences since “have been fuelled by alcohol”, he said.
White had since cleaned herself up with help from community services, Mr Vickers added.
Magistrate Ann McGarvie stood the matter down for White to be assessed for a community corrections order.
White will be sentenced at a later date.