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A serial shoplifter with a 27-year criminal history, including 49 convictions for dishonesty and shoplifting, has admitted stealing a $670 pair of Versace sunglasses.
Cushla Michelle Gilmour, 41, of Tauranga, who earlier admitted three charges of shoplifting, was sentenced to six months' community detention and one year's supervision when she appeared in Tauranga District Court on Friday.
On January 31, Gilmour took the $670 pair of Versace sunglasses from a display case at Sunglasses Hut and put them in her handbag, yet denied having them when confronted by store security.
The glasses were found and returned to the display case undamaged.
On February 4, she returned to Bayfair Shopping Centre and stole two singlets from Cotton On, valued at $30, and two pair of shorts and a T-shirt valued at $175 from clothing store Nevada.
But as she did so, the security tags on the stolen items set off the store alarm and she was chased down by a staff member.
Gilmour told police she had to steal because she did not have enough money to survive each week.
Judge Paul Geoghegan told Gilmour that a jail sentence for an offender like her was a "no brainer".
Gilmour had an appalling criminal history stretching back to 1983, which included 49 convictions for dishonesty and shoplifting, the judge said.
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Judge Geoghegan said what was concerning was Gilmour's attempt to paint herself as the victim and she needed to get past that view. "It is high time at the age of 41 that you start to put yourself in someone else's shoes."
However, the judge said on this occasion he was prepared to step back from prison and impose community detention and supervision in the hope that the sentence along with Gilmour's attendance at Community Alcohol and Drug Service's relapse programme would help her to break the cycle of her offending.
Gilmour was also ordered to pay $30 reparation to Cotton On and also sentenced to 200 hours' community work in lieu of wiping $3000 fines.
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