Chantelle Smith, 28, of Sampson Street, was in custody and appeared in Orange Local Court via a video link on Monday for intimidation and shoplifting $46 worth of clothing from Best and Less.

According to police, Smith abused and threatened a store worker multiple times on October 4, when the employee tried to stop her walking out without paying for sandals, a singlet, NRL Rabbitohs shorts and a straw hat.

Among the abuse Smith gave was, "I am going to hit you, I am going to kill you, I should punch you, you dog s***, you filthy b****".

Smith initially entered the Anson Street store at 9.39am and took a pair of sandals, replaced them with her own sandals and removed the tags before putting the new sandals on.

She then tried on several items of clothes including the shorts and singlet and again removed the tags and handed the tags and her own clothes to a store assistant.

However, when she got to the front of the store while wearing the shop's clothes and hat she was told by an employee she needed to pay for the items.

Smith swore and threatened to "put you on your a***," and "knock you out," when the victim directed her to the queue.

When Smith got to the counter Smith put down two of the clothing tags and $8.85 in cash then said she needed a phone to pay for the items but when she was told there wasn't a phone she continued yelling abuse.

Smith returned to the fitting rooms and police were called but she left, still wearing the shop's clothes and was arrested in another part of the Orange City Centre complex.

Solicitor Simeon Miller said Smith was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time and she did not know the victim.

He said Smith's mother was addicted to heroin and when Smith was a child she taught her to steal. Smith herself started consuming alcohol and cannabis when she was 14 and she started using methamphetamine and heroin when she was 16.

"She hasn't known anything else since the age of six," Mr Miller said.

"More things that drive her are an abusive upbringing and a drug issue that's never been addressed."

Magistrate David Day took into account Smith's upbringing but also said she was on conditional liberty at the time due to a 12-month community correction order that required her to be of good behaviour, and a lengthy criminal record.

"She has an almost non-stop record since she became an adult," Mr Day said.

"She informed the court that she learnt dishonesty when she was [six].

"She was taught to be a thief before she was even able to learn right from wrong.

"Just because your mum shows you how to take purses and how to steal particularly from little old ladies, and just because your mum does drugs doesn't mean [you] have to continue to be a criminal."

Mr Day said punishment, deterring Smith and deterring other people in the community, as well as protection for the community, were factors to consider when handing down a sentence, as well as Smith's need for drug rehabilitation.

"There were people in the shop that were hearing Miss Smith raising her voice to the store manager in such a disgraceful manner," Mr Day said.

"The whole store knew what was going on."

He said shoplifting also raised businesses' overheads which were covered by increasing the price of goods.

For each offence Mr Day gave her a 15-month jail sentence with seven-month non-parole period from when she went into custody on October 4 to May 3, 2020. Her sentence took into account a need for rehabilitation while on supervised parole.