A woman who helped steal a jewellery display box from a Wagga shopping centre before smashing it open now faces extra time behind bars.
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Marika McKellar, whose listed address is in Orange, pleaded guilty to larceny and failing to follow a COVID-19 direction at Wagga Local Court on Wednesday.
On August 8, McKellar and another woman entered the Wagga Marketplace without a face mask and did not use a QR code to check in.
McKellar pushed a trolley against a display pod that housed jewellery from Pandora and pulled the box in while the other woman lifted it up and pushed.
They ran from the location and went to a car park on Peter Street, where they pushed the pod over several times to break the Perspex and 16 Star Wars charms, rings and bracelets were stolen.
In court on Wednesday, the 24-year-old's solicitor acknowledged that due to previous breaches of conditional liberty, the only appropriate sentence was one of imprisonment.
However, he said, the theft was "opportunistic" and was encouraged by her partner in crime because she was "not normally game enough to do something this brazen".
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The solicitor said McKellar did not receive proceeds from the theft. He explained that McKellar had formed a drug problem at a young age and suffered a "disadvantaged upbringing".
Magistrate Christopher Halburd said it was a "complicated matter" as McKellar was serving a community correction order at the time.
Magistrate Halburd said the failure to wear a mask and sign-in at the shopping centre was a "flagrant breach".
"A really clear message needs to be sent to people that these orders are for the protection of everyone," he said.
Magistrate Halburd said the punishment would need to have some "interference" with the end of her current jail sentence.
He said while McKellar did not end up with any of the proceeds, she still took part in the crime, and ordered her to pay 50 per cent of the compensation - $1622.50
McKellar was jailed for 10 months from December 15, meaning she will be eligible for release on June 14, 2022.
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