QLD First time stealing offence and needing advice

[L.1510]

Hi

I’m a 29year old single mother and the last week was my first (and last) stealing offence . I was silly enough to steal from a Target in QLD , was just a few things for my kids , plush toy, few little other toys , DVD etc . Wasn’t anymore then $200 . First of all I’m so disappointed in myself for doing this in the first place and I know having kids and doing it tuff at times is no excuse what so ever to do what I did .
The police I spoke to and charged me for it were pretty nice as I was being upfront with them , anyway I got a form to go to local police office to get finer prints done etc ... that’s not my worry but just wondering what do you think would be my punishment ? I live by myself , my 2 eldest are in school but I have a 9 month old I look after on my own and doesn’t go to daycare at this point in time as I’m not working .
Will I get the conviction recorded ? Good behaviour, community service?

Any advice would be great

Thanks

 

[L.1510]

I also forgot to mention and ask , that my court date is in about 3 weeks . Do I need to get a lawyer/legal aid? I admitted what I did to the police the day I got court and when I go to court will be no different . I guess I’m not the best when talking in front of people/crowds . Specially a judge

 

[sammy01]

contact legal aid.
Go the the court house on Monday and ask the duty officer for some advice on service providers that might be able to assist you.
Plead guilty and ask for a good behaviour bond....

 

[Adam1user]

I am surprised that you were sent to court. If this was your first offense, low value and never had a problem with the law before, usually it would be a fine issued with out going to court, this is what I understood from reading comments here, but it maybe the store manager reported to police and wanted to go through this process. I am no a lawyer (which means I maybe wrong) but this is from my understanding from reading here .

It would be wise to get a lawyer whom will let you what you need example: character references etc.... and will advise you most probably to plead "guilty with explanation" and I think you will get (if you have a clean record and never had problems with the law before) is a fine and good behavior bond (no jail time) , maybe it will not be recorded as conviction and of course being banned from the store.

 

[L.1510]

I am surprised that you were sent to court. If this was your first offense, low value and never had a problem with the law before, usually it would be a fine issued with out going to court, this is what I understood from reading comments here, but it maybe the store manager reported to police and wanted to go through this process. I am no a lawyer (which means I maybe wrong) but this is from my understanding from reading here .

It would be wise to get a lawyer whom will let you what you need example: character references etc.... and will advise you most probably to plead "guilty with explanation" and I think you will get (if you have a clean record and never had problems with the law before) is a fine and good behavior bond (no jail time) , maybe it will not be recorded as conviction and of course being banned from the store.

Thanks for the reply . I’m hoping that is the outcome and I’m being 100% truthful , first time offence , haven’t had any problems with police before , never had to go to court for anything apart from when it was about custody with me ex but that is it. I thought aswell that I was only going to get a fine , I guess I will find out when I actually go to court .

Thanks again for the advice ! I will contact a lawyer first thing tomorrow .

 

[Bill Murray]

Even though the law allows adult cautions they are weak as hell and not recorded in any formal way. I refuse to issue them. I'll send it to court and let a magistrate record it with no conviction because at least that creates a record.

You should have been charged with UTAG unless you had not left the shop yet.

See a lawyer but DO NOT let them represent you in court for such a minor charge. Get their advice and my suggestion is look at pleading guilty online:
Plead guilty online

This means you don't need to get up and speak. You can take a few days to write a well thought out response with some character references if required.

You'll get a fine of a few hundred $$$ for UTAG. No conviction. Nothing else.