Toni Margaret Blurton jailed for stealing $300 worth of groceries and throwing block of cheese at worker

A Geraldton woman has been jailed for 14 months after stealing $300 worth of groceries, throwing a block of cheese at a supermarket worker and pushing a basket into her face, causing her nose to bleed. Toni Margaret Blurton was sentenced in the Geraldton District Court on Monday after pleading guilty to robbery at Woolworths Seacrest on December 12 last year. The court was told Blurton was known to the supermarket staff for previous shoplifting incidents and when Blurton tried to push her full trolley past the checkout, two women who worked at the store blocked her path. She threw a block of cheese at one of the workers but they caught it before it hit her face. The worker was using a shopping basket as a shield to protect herself against thrown items but Blurton pushed the basket into the woman’s face, causing a small cut and her nose to bleed. After repeated attempts to ram past the workers, including pushing one in the chest, Blurton eventually left the store with the groceries but was arrested by police in Rangeway later that day and has been in custody since. Her robbery conviction breaches a suspended prison term she was on at the time for fraud offences. Blurton’s lawyer Georgia Keysers said according to her client the shop attendants were following her around the shop calling her a thief and she felt they were “racially profiling” her. “Of course, the statement of the shop attendant states that she had known Ms Blurton from past dealings with her and it’s clear any assumptions the shop attendant might have had about her were eventually made true because she did steal that shopping trolley full of groceries,” she said. Ms Keysers said Blurton had a history of trauma, dysfunction and drug abuse but this incident had been a “significant wake-up call” to the mother of two. Judge Sarah Russell said shop attendants were “entitled to do their job and earn a living without fear that they will be subject to this type of conduct”. “I have no doubt that it would have been a frightening experience for them and it would have made their job difficult,” she said. But the judge said the robbery was at the lower range of seriousness and took into account Blurton’s early plea of guilty. She imposed a 14-month jail term for the robbery and ordered Blurton to serve three months of her suspended prison term. With time already served, Blurton will be eligible for parole later this month.