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Mother of four children caught shoplifting from several shops and hiding the items in her pram.

The woman received a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty but avoided having to pay the money back.

Alicia Jane Larsen-Smith, 35, faced the Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland on Wednesday on seven stealing charges, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

The mother used her pram to hide items including a vacuum cleaner, baby clothes, and gift packs.

The shopping spree started six months ago at Target at Westfield Helensvale on the Gold Coast where Larsen-Smith stole baby clothes and bottles before concealing them in her pram.

A few months later, the court heard she stole a $499 vacuum cleaner from Big W and $200 worth of gift packs from Lush at Mt Gravatt Brisbane.

Two months later on March 7, the court heard she took clothes from Supre, Cotton On, Valley Girl and Target.

‘She is extremely embarrassed,’ lawyer Jessie Challal said in court. ‘She didn’t have any laundry facilities when she stole the clothes,’

The magistrate sentenced her to three months jail, suspended for nine months, but she did not have to pay the stores back due to her financial situation, it was reported.

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  • My children are now grown but when my youngest was a bub and in a pram I went to the reject store. I put some items in the basket under the seat and some other items I put on the pram hood. I had other items in my hands. I went through the check out, paid for my items and went home. An hour later I started to unpack my purchases and was very confused over how some of the items were not in the bag. I went out to check the car thinking that items must have fallen out of the bag but they hadnt. Then to my horror I saw an item in the basket under the seat of the pram. I pulled the pram out and found there was $10 worth of items I had not paid for. I rushed inside and phoned the store. I asked for the Manager and explained what had happened and told him that I would drop $10 in next time I was at the shopping center. He was stunned and asked me if I was crazy. He could not believe that I had been so honest but I felt horrible and so guilty. 2 weeks later I paid the $10.

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  • No matter what her circumstances were, she stole and that’s a fact. She’s been let off so she can go and steal from more shops. What a great role model she is for her children and how many others and now going to think they can steal and get away with it. Okay she didn’t have the money to pay back but what about community service?

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  • Terrible example to her own children

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  • That is such a ridiculous excuse and I’m sorry but it should be referred to SPER or something and she should have to pay it back just like anyone else. BTW what does the vacuum cleaner or the gift packs have to do with not having any laundry facilities? As someone else said, there are charities to help those in need if she really was desperate.

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  • Someone needs to teach this girl about op shops.

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  • Is she embarrassed only because she was caught? I despise shoplifters. There is never a reason to shoplift, ever. I stood in line at The Reject Shop last week to pay $4 for a birthday card while two High School students walked out the entry with their backpacks and the cashier saying they come in every morning and steal but she can’t do anything. I am so sick of shoplifters. It puts the price up for the rest of us who spend our hard earned money to pay for things – the legal way.

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  • Must be a mighty big pram to be able to steal a vacuum cleaner! A disgraceful thing to do and sadly I have heard of other people doing stealing goods this way. Retailers are more vigilant when people with prams and shopping trolleys enter stores.

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  • Just wrong – she must be made to pay it back or else what deterrent is there for not doing it again? She certainly took high quality goods, so don’t think being short of money was a problem.

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  • Financial heartship and other problems might have caused kleptomania by this woman.
    A $449 vacuumcleaner must be quite a good brand, something we can’t afford ourselves. And clothing from Supre, Cotton On, Valley Girl and Target are not the cheapest brands either. She sure took her pick, but maybe she craved something she has been missing for years….
    When she doesn’t have to pay the items back, I really hope she gets the helps she needs.

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  • That’s crap that she didn’t have to pay it back…she should have received community service for what she has done. I found out today visiting an op shop that they constantly have shop lifters. That is so sad as it is a charity shop. And most of the stuff is really cheap anyhow.

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  • interesting that she did not have to pay it back.

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  • I can’t understand how she could hide all these items in a pram. I’m baffled.

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  • I’m a little confused how she stole for 6ths ?

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  • I’m pleased she was caught.

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  • If she doesn’t pay it back she may do it again!

    Reply

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