Prison for Olympian

FORMER Olympian turned ice addict and serial thief Chantelle Newbery will have until December 10 to reflect in a jail cell on her sad, painful and long downward slide.

Newbery, who had been remanded in custody, faced Cleveland Magistrates Court on November 10 for the latest in a string of thefts.

Magistrate Deborah Vasta told her “there must be a consequence” for her repeat offending, this time after she stole within 10 days of receiving a community prison order.

A “distressed and disappointed” Newbery, 44, formerly of Toowoomba told the court she was doing well before “stuffing up”.

The Commonwealth and Olympic gold medallist and Medal of the Order of Australia winner pleaded guilty to two charges of stealing and a single charge of possessing drug utensils.

The court heard Newbery had been sentenced to a four-month intensive correction order for stealing groceries on November 1 but reoffended 10 days later.

Newbery had been caught stealing $113 dollars in groceries including mince, yoghurt, cleaning cloths and body wash from Woolworths in Capalaba, as well as $150 in bed sheets from Target on November 9.

A glass pipe, suspected to have been used for smoking meth, was found in a sunglasses case on her person during a subsequent search.

The offending came after what prosecutors described as a substantial criminal history of widespread and “planned” stealing.

The court heard Newbery had previously stolen items at Carina Heights, Capalaba, Woolloongabba, Ormiston, Robina Town Centre, Carindale and Helensvale, among other locations.

For those offences she had previously received community service, lengthy terms of probation, recognisance and most recently an intensive corrections order, according to prosecutors.

Ms Vasta contemplated releasing the mother of two on bail but prosecutors urged that “there must be consequences for her offending”.

Newbery pleaded with Ms Vasta that she had in fact been doing well during an “emotional” week, before “stuffing up”.

Lawyer Tanya Lacy said her client accepted all the facts, had been “trying really hard” and was clean of ice while in pre-sentence custody for 13 days.

Newbery was sentenced to six months in prison with a December 10 parole date.