Notorious Illawarra criminal Belinda Van Krevel has escaped jail time for two acts of shoplifting, at least one of which was carried out for the purpose of supporting her illicit drug habit.
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Van Krevel, who became a household name in 2001 after being found guilty of soliciting her then-lover to kill her own father, pleaded guilty in Port Kembla Local Court on Tuesday to one count of entering enclosed lands and two counts of shoplifting following two separate incidents at Westfield Warrawong in as many months.
A set of police fact sheets tendered to the court revealed Van Krevel and a male friend entered the Aldi supermarket on September 2 and filled a backpack and reusable plastic bag with trays of meat before walking out of the store without paying. An employee reported the incident to security, who notified police.
As a result of that theft, Westfield issued Van Krevel with a notice on October 1 banning her from entering the centre for six months.
However, Van Krevel was seen entering the TK Maxx store inside the centre just three days later where she loaded several clothing items into a plastic bag bag and walked out without paying.
When police spoke to her five days later, Van Krevel admitted she'd hocked the items the day she'd stolen them.
"Yeah I sold the clothing on the same day....for drugs and money," she said.
Van Krevel represented herself in court proceedings on Wednesday, telling Magistrate Roger Clisdell she knew she was in the wrong when he asked why she felt entitled to other people's property.
"I know I done (sic) the wrong thing, I acknowledge that," she said.
Magistrate Clisdell noted Van Krevel's more recent criminal history involved theft and dishonesty but said the current charges did not warrant jail time.
He instead put her on a 12-month community corrections order and ordered her to pay $600 to the court - a $200 fine and $400 in compensation to the businesses.
Van Krevel 's life has been punctuated by run-ins with the law since being released from a six-year jail sentence in the mid-2000s over the solicit to murder charge.
She spent another two years in jail after stabbing a partner at a Rockdale unit in 2013, then another two months in jail in 2017 for stealing an elderly woman's handbag at Windang.
