Former Australian Olympic champion Chantelle Newbery has been convicted of stealing groceries from Woolworths supermarket in Toowoomba, Queensland.
45-year-old Newbery is a well-known diver who won gold for Australia in the 10-metre platform diving event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Last year, on July 28 she walked out of the supermarket without paying with a trolley full of shopping worth $383.
The Toowoomba Chronicle reported that Newbery told police that she had no food and no money to pay for it.
Prosecutor Anita Page said Newbery told police “she was staying at her sister’s house and there was no food there … She could not afford all the items that she wanted to purchase”.
Newbery’s solicitor Alysha Jacobsen told the court that her client had turned to drugs after her divorce.
Magistrate Kay Phillipson sentenced Newbery to eight months jail but gave immediate parole saying: “You really need to turn things around.”
Further, the magistrate added that the only reason Newbery got parole is that she is caring for her 18-month-old niece.
She will face court in two weeks on an unlawful use of a motor vehicle charge that her lawyer says may be contested.
Newbery has a history of stealing, driving and drug offences dating back to 2014. In 2021, she was caught with an ice pipe when stopped for shoplifting groceries and bed sheets from Woolworths and Target. She was in tears when she fronted court on theft charges.
Newbery is also the recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2005.
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