STATE OF TASMANIA v LISA MAREE WELLS 24 MAY 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE ESTCOURT J
The defendant has pleaded guilty to one count of Stealing and to two charges of making a false report and dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage. I have agreed to deal with the latter two charges under s 385A of the Criminal Code at the same time as the indictable offence.
The defendant, Lisa Maree Wells, was aged 36 at the time of the offending.
The complainant is Dr Christopher Lueg who is the owner of a property at 27 Sherwood Court, Lindisfarne in Tasmania. On 21 October 2019 Ms Wells signed a six months residential tenancy which included a clause that the locked room downstairs in the premises must not be accessed by her at any time.
The locked storage room referred to was a standard bedroom sized rumpus room which contained the complainant’s property to an approximate value of $121,920. The complainant was a collector of art, books, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. A camper trailer also referred to in the rental agreement as the complainant’s property was stored in the garage.
Sometime during December 2019, Ms Wells gained access to the locked storage room. She searched through the complainant’s property, and thereafter she and her associates began taking and selling that property.
On 27 February 2020 the property manager for EIS Property, Ms Crawford, attended the Lindisfarne address to do an inspection and noticed that the camper trailer was not present. She asked Ms Wells about it and was told that it had been lent it to a friend. Ms Crawford advised Ms Wells that she would return to do another inspection the following day and if the camper trailer was not returned by that time, she would contact police.
Ms Crawford attended the property again the following day. She waited approximately 15 minutes before Ms Wells arrived. Ms Wells went upstairs into the house. Ms Crawford stayed in the garage. Ms Crawford heard a loud scream and went upstairs to find Ms Wells laying on the floor saying that there had been a break in. This was partially true, I am told, to the extent that others had taken property from the room.
Sometime after 5pm on 28 February 2020, that is, the following day, Ms Wells contacted police and made a formal report claiming that the house had been broken into while she was at work that day and property stolen. Over the following days, police became suspicious about the authenticity of the report. However Ms Wells provided a statutory declaration outlining the alleged circumstances
In early March 2020 police attended Cash Converters and viewed CCTV and documents which revealed a number of items belonging to the complainant had been sold to Cash Converters, including by Ms Wells.
On 16 March 2020 Ms Wells contacted police and told them she wished to hand in some of the stolen property. She later attended the Bellerive Police Station with property to a total approximate value of $35,540, which is not presently the subject of any charge before me.
In total, approximately $121,290 worth of the complainant’s property was stolen, of which $51,680 worth has been recovered.
It is asserted by the Crown that Ms Wells is criminally responsible for the stealing of the $22,850 worth of property that was recovered. While it is not asserted that the accused is criminally responsible for the remainder of those items, it is asserted that after she broke into the secure room and started stealing from there, she allowed others to live in the house and that they stole from the room that was no longer secured. It is also asserted she is criminally responsible for knowingly selling property that did not belong to her, namely a Batman Signal, sold to Cash Converters in the sum of $60.
I have seen a victim impact statement. Obviously these events were distressing for Dr Lueg.
The defendant has not spent time in custody in relation to this matter. She has no prior convictions for offences of dishonesty.
She was at the time addicted to methylamphetamine, and after these events fled to Queensland fleeing domestic violence and leaving her children behind. All of that has turned around since living in Queensland, and I am told she is now drug free and her future is promising. She is now 38 years old.
Until these events she had a stable and law abiding life. There is now every prospect that she will again continue to do so.
In all of the circumstances the defendant is convicted of each of the three charges to which she has pleaded guilty, and I impose a single sentence of 9 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended on condition that the defendant commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of two years.