Son trashed courtroom moments after mother jailed for stolen credit card offences

Amelia Joan Lucas, 38, of Bert Whitely Place, remained calm upon finding out she would be jailed until Christmas Day and kissed the 18-year-old goodbye before being led away, after which he stormed out yelling and was charged with malicious damage to property.

Magistrate David Day gave Lucas a seven-month jail sentence with a three-month non-parole period for the fifth time she used a stolen Visa card to buy $100 worth of clothing.

“It must have occurred to Ms Lucas by the fifth time she used the card that what she was doing was wrong,” Mr Day said.

“[The card] belonged to a medical practitioner and was in a handbag in her consulting room at her surgery.

“It was not stolen by Lucas but she used it five times. It is a prevalent offence.

“The offending is aggravated by a lengthy and varied criminal record.” 

For each of the other four offences on September 14, 2017, Lucas was given a 12-month community corrections order, which requires her to abstain from drugs unless prescribed by a medical practitioner, and pay costs to the victim.

The card was stolen between 9am and noon on September 14, 2017, and Lucas used it to purchase $329.27 worth of items between 12.08pm and 6.03pm that day.

She used the tap-and-go function to first buy a pack of cigarettes for $32.95, minutes later in the same store she spent $69.98 on soft drinks and phone credit and at 12.21pm she bought another pack of cigarettes for $30.95.

At 4.58pm she bought numerous hygiene products and a walking stick for $95.39 and then at 6.03pm she bought the clothes for $100.

She was caught on CCTV purchasing some of the items and police arrested her at her home on September 20 when she told police, “we sold it all, the only thing left is the walking stick”.