A woman jailed for at least six months for breaking into a Wollongong nightspot and helping steal $16,000 worth of equipment and alcohol will appeal her sentence in the District Court.
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Cassie Priest was handed a nine-month jail sentence, with a non-parole period of six months, after confessing to stealing DJ equipment, a digital video recorder, T-shirts, glasses, nightclub stamps and bottles of alcohol from Questions Nightclub in Corrimal Street in the early hours of January 1 after a private New Year’s Eve function.
Priest removed pins from the club’s rear emergency exit door to gain access to the premises, loading the goods into her car and taking them to her home in Unanderra where she set about on-selling them.
She was arrested five days later when police saw her carrying items from her home to a car.
Officers found a crate of alcohol bottles in the car, and hard drives, a case of CDs, digital video recorder, four vodka cans and six half-full bottles of alcohol in the house.
Priest’s mobile phone contained photographs of crated, bottled alcohol, and messages related to their sale, including a price list, as well as photos of the DJ sound equipment.
The police investigation was aided by a young witness who later sought protection after receiving threatening messages from Priest.
The court heard the messages continued once the order was granted. In one, Priest told the witness: ‘‘no AVO will stop me you putrid dog’’.
Priest applied for release on bail until her appeal is heard, however Magistrate Michael Stoddart refused the request, saying she had failed to turn up to court on previous occasions when she was facing less serious charges.
The appeal has been set down for later this month in Sutherland.