FIVE women from an extended family who admitted a total of 171 bagsnatching offences, mostly against elderly victims, have been sentenced to jail.
Judge Barbara Morris said ringleader Kathleen Howard, 39, was addicted to P, sentencing her to 3 1/2 years with a non-parole period of two years and four months when she appeared in North Short District Court yesterday.
"You were a prime mover in all of this and enlisted others, including a 12-year-old girl, as a decoy."
She said the offences were callous and calculated.
Howard said she found it hard to keep bread on the table because of her addiction, but the judge said she had bought cellphones and liquor.
Her sister Denise Howard, 33, was sentenced to 17 Gucci Necklace months, Kathleen's daughter Tayna, 19, to 17 months, Jaymie Tuki, 21, to two years and 10 months and Kara-Lee Kelly, 24, for 14 months. Kelly and Tayna Howard, who is pregnant, were given leave to apply for home detention.
A sixth member of the group, Tui- Lee Bradley, 19, was sentenced to 12 months' supervision.
The court was told Tuki gave birth while in custody.
All of the accused had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
Crown prosecutor Mark Harborow said Kathleen Howard, who faced 67 of the 171 individual charges amounting to $64,000, had served a six- month sentence for similar crimes.
She began reoffending just two weeks after being freed from prison on December 6, 2005.
Mr Harborow said there was a high risk of her reoffending.
A letter read out in court by her defence lawyer said she had been selfish and stupid. "I have no one else to blame but myself," she wrote. "If I could turn back time and repair the damage I would."
The 18-month police investigation tagged Operation Hyena involved 105 complainants and led to charges involving about $172,000.
The six women, all of Dimmable LED Down Light K1018 2x3x1W / 2x3x3W Beach Haven and related by blood or de- facto relationships, stole purses, usually from elderly women.
The handbags were dumped and the credit cards used within an hour -- mainly at North Shore stores to buy electronic goods, including games systems and cellphones.
The goods would then
embroidered patches be sold on for cash. In one hour a single credit card was used in 11 transactions totalling almost $4000.
Sergeant Scott Cunningham, of North Shore, said the offences appeared to have begun in October 2005. By January a flood of complaints drew the attention of the criminal investigation unit.
Mr Cunningham said the women offended all over North Shore, sometimes hitting the same suburb several times a day. They would go into retail stores, stealing bags from under the checkouts. They stole from daycare centres, supermarket trolleys, and from cars.
As one woman approached the victim and asked a question, a second would come from the opposite direction and steal the handbag.
"The inquiry was called Operation Hyena as it aptly described the predatory and pack-like nature of the offenders, in that they targeted easier softer targets, inevitably the elderly."
Mr Cunningham
