"She's been on so many bonds, been given so many opportunities", a magistrate has said of a pregnant woman before Griffith Local Court.
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Lesley Lynette Jean Burnes, 26, currently five months pregnant, and charged with two counts of shoplifting and a breach of a corrections order, gave Magistrate Joy Boulos a difficult decision to make on Wednesday, who said she "didn't know what to do".
"She just doesn't care," Ms Boulos said.
"Her sentencing assessment report is not good. She shows insight into her behaviour as impacting herself and not the community.
"Surrounded by negative social influences... Grow up. Grow up."
Burnes was caught on CCTV stealing two bottles of 'Misguided Babe Dreams' perfume and a men's Calvin Klein totaling $243.98 from a local chemist on July 5.
On July 21 she stole four bottles of perfume totaling $139.96 from the same chemist, including Police's 'To Be Miss Beat'.
Burnes was on a community corrections order at the times, also for shoplifting and driving despite never having a licence.
What do we do? I actually don't know.
- Magistrate Joy Boulos
Susie Gidlow, Burnes' legal representative detailed her troubled past, but said now she had paid off many of her debts, was living in stable accommodation, and had given up drugs and alcohol since being pregnant.
Yet Ms Boulos said there "is nothing to demonstrate anything positive".
Deliberating over a course of action over the lunch break, she outlined many aggravating factors.
Being on a number of orders and bonds, a history of non-compliance and breaches, a report detailing a lack of insight and unwillingness to seek help, zero prospects of rehabilitation, an unsuitability for community service due to the pregnancy, with "disingenuous" attempts to change stemming from court appearances, a lengthy criminal history and no history of employment.
"What do we do? I actually don't know," the magistrate confided in Ms Gidlow.
Ms Gidlow outlined the real need for specific deterrents given the repeat nature of the offending, despite the relatively low objective seriousness of the present charges.
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"Shoplifting is prevalent in the community ... but specific deterrents are of high priority," she explained.
Ms Boulos took into account the positive housing arrangement and her hope to keep her fifth child, yet said it was still a "difficult balancing exercise".
"I will afford you this one further opportunity."
For breaching one order she received a four month intensive corrections order, and for the fresh charges received an eight month intensive corrections order - an overall aggregate sentence of seven months, monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet.
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