By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Narre Warren woman who has pleaded guilty to a spate of charges including car theft, petrol drive-offs, running a red light and dangerous driving has been warned by a judge that the “softly softly approach” was coming to an end.
Lucy Hall, 24, was on bail and breaching a community corrections order for much of her past year of offending, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard on 20 February.
Hall faces sentencing on not just her recent offences but on the 45 charges that led to the community corrections order.
She was told by magistrate Jack Vandersteen that she was “right on the cusp”.
“The softly, softly approach isn’t working with you now.
“If you commit a further offence while you’re subject to my orders, you’ll have to explain how long I am to put you in jail for.
“How many court orders can you be put on?
“How many can you breach?
“How many lies can you tell in between?”
Mr Vandersteen noted Hall’s driving offences – allegedly committed in Northcote in February 2016 – were the most serious.
They included dangerous driving, running a red light, travelling the wrong way on a roundabout, reckless conduct endangering life and theft from a motor vehicle.
He told Hall to be honest about the “wrong people” she was associating with, and to start obeying court orders.
“You’re showing more loyalty to (your associates) than your close family.
“I imagine your family is at their wit’s end. They wouldn’t know who you are.”
Hall was most recently arrested on 13 January after allegedly stealing with a male co-accused about $584 of hardware and door and window furnishings from Bunnings in Narre Warren.
She had also pleaded guilty to petrol drive-offs at Hampton Park, Frankston and Eastlink in September and October, and travelling in a vehicle stolen from Dandenong in October.
Hall was described by her lawyer as getting a “wake-up call” after spending a night in custody and taking a judge’s “stern words on board” after her arrest on 13 January.
The accused was seeking long-term drug rehab. Her eight previous detox programs of about 10 days each were not long enough to produce lasting change, the lawyer said.
“She’s really trying to cut down,” the lawyer said.
“She’s working very hard.”
Recently, Hall had left a home shared with a male co-accused and had sought companionship with a dog instead.
Mr Vandersteen bailed Hall on conditions including a night curfew, performing a drug test, reporting to Narre Warren police station and not associating with her four co-accused.
Hall is expected to be sentenced at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 6 March.
