A woman who ransacked a home and burgled a Bendigo bowls club will spend two months in prison for her crimes.
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Harmany Gourley was sentenced in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Monday, having earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.
Forensics linked the 23-year-old to the 2015 burglary of a Kennington home, in which property worth about $4275 was stolen, including a television, PlayStation, jewellery, clothing, tools and kitchen items.
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Gourley was 18 at the time of this crime.
In June last year, Gourley was involved in the theft of a Holden Rodeo from Golden Square.
Police found Gourley after the victim used an app to find their laptop, which had been in the stolen vehicle.
Fingerprints on the vehicle also linked her to the crime.
She was also involved in a burglary at the Golden Square Bowls Club last month.
About $700 of alcohol was stolen, while the building and fridge sustained about $3000 of damage.
Lawyer Marcus Williams told the court that the 14 days Gourley had spent in custody to Monday were a sufficient jail sentence, and a community corrections order afterwards served as a vehicle for both treatment and punishment.
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Magistrate Sharon McRae said Gourley would have received only a corrections order for the first burglary, but the community expected more with the subsequent offences.
Ms McRae said it was an aggravating feature of the second burglary that the target was a community facility.
But she said she was imposing a jail sentence on Gourley that was much shorter than others would receive.
Ms McRae sentenced Gourley to two months' imprisonment, reckoning 14 days as having already been served.
Upon her release, Gourley will be placed on a 12-month community corrections order that includes treatment for drug use, alcohol use and mental health, as well as offender behaviour programs.
She has also been banned from driving for six months.
Had she not pleaded guilty and been found so, Gourley would have faced a four-month jail sentence.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
