A woman with a penchant for shoplifting faces going back to prison over her latest self-gratifying offence.
Donna Marie Walls, 40, a sickness beneficiary, admitted in Tauranga District Court today to taking $145 worth of property from an "adult shop" in the city.
She also pleaded guilty to one charge each of possessing cannabis and having a pipe for smoking methamphetamine.
Walls - who stood in the dock using crutches for support - was bailed for sentencing on March 16, after Judge Paul Geoghegan heard that she had to take her child back to school in another city.
"You might want to think about your teenage son before you commit these offences," the judge told her.
He called for a pre-sentence report to look at community and home detention options, after initially preparing to jail the defendant today, before she revealed the up-coming trip for the beginning of the school year.
Prosecutor David Pawson said Walls was identified by in-store closed circuit television after visiting the Aristocrat Adult Shop on Cameron Road about 2.45pm last November 6.
She selected "various adult products" and put them in her bag, leaving the store without paying.
A search warrant was executed on her Mt Maunganui home later that month with the intention of recovering the goods, said Mr Pawson.
During the search, police found 40 grams of cannabis plant in a coffee jar in Walls's bedroom. She said it was for her personal use.
The defendant also acknowledged a glass pipe for smoking methamphetamine, saying she had used it "a while ago."
Walls admitted stealing items from the adult store because she had no money to pay for them.
Lawyer David Bates said his client had a "very troubled past" and had difficulty coping with life.
She had been in jail before for similar offending and was in no position to pay fines, he said.
"She relies on a benefit and each time she goes to prison it causes havoc for her, trying to rearrange her living conditions when she gets out."
During a court adjournment, the prosecutor told NZPA the adult shop owner did not want the recovered stolen vibrators and lubricants back.
Reparation of $145 was being sought instead.
