Elishya Jade Dann: Geraldton woman sentenced after shopping spree with stolen credit card

A Geraldton woman who went on a shopping spree with a stolen credit card has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Elishya Jade Dann, 23, appeared in Geraldton Magistrates Court on Monday for sentencing on 18 charges to which she had previously pleaded guilty, including driving with no authority, possession of unlawfully obtained property, stealing, 13 charges of gaining benefit by fraud and two charges of attempting to gain benefit by fraud.

The 15 fraud charges involved Dann using a stolen credit card and going on a shopping spree in multiple stores on October 21 last year. During the spree with the stolen card, Dann went to stores including IGA, Kmart, Liquorland, Athletes Foot and more, spending more than $800 until the card was declined.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Ross Gray told the court Dann had been caught by police driving without a licence in Utakarra on March 30, 2022. Her licence had been suspended by police on five different occasions.

In relation to the stealing, Sgt Gray said Dann and a co-accused had driven into the carpark of Geraldton Golf Club, where they walked to the courtyard and took a pot with African rose plants and a chair to the value of more than $600.

The theft was captured on CCTV and when police went to her house, the items were found on the front porch.

Defence lawyer Fintan Roberts told the court Dann was a single mother of three children and had been going through a rough patch, and was trying to feed her kids

Sgt Gray argued that this was a significant amount of spending in one day and it would have caused grief to the victim.

Magistrate Angus Hockton said: “There is no excuse to use someone else’s card. I’m giving you a second chance today, but you probably will not get a third chance.”

He said regarding the driving without a licence, Dann had been placed on a suspended sentence for driving and immediately broke it.

“It was only in February that you were placed on the suspended sentence and then it happened in March, only seven weeks, when it was suspended for 10 months,” he said.

Mr Hockton sentenced Dann to a nine-month jail term, suspended on conditions for 12 months. She was also disqualified from driving for a further nine months, was fined $300 and ordered to pay back $811.39 to the owner of the stolen card.