Woman remanded as mum summoned in speaker theft case

A woman who admitted stealing her mother’s speaker has been remanded to Dodds Prison while the court summons the complainant to give evidence.

Tara Dee Jarvis, of no fixed address, appeared in the District ‘A’ Traffic Court and pleaded guilty to stealing a $400 speaker belonging to Betty Jarvis on August 18. She also admitted that on September 10 she was loitering on the premises of Emma Lish unable to give a satisfactory account of herself and had a knife, an offensive weapon.

Constable Troy Tudor said that on the August date, Jarvis visited her mother’s house, sat in a chair next to the speaker and began applying make-up. Her mother, who was in the same room, fell asleep and, when she awoke, the accused and the speaker were gone. After making several attempts to have her daughter return the speaker, the mother contacted the police a few days later.

On September 10, police responding to a report found Jarvis on Lish’s property. When asked to give an account, the accused gave her name as Shakera Perch of Consett Bay and said she was trying to get into contact with a contractor.

But as she was known to the police she was instantly recognised and searched. A six-and-a-half-inch dagger, sheathed in a holster, was found tucked in her bosom. She told officers she had it for a person who had thrown rocks at her.

On the theft of the speaker, Jarvis said she borrowed it as one of her friends was celebrating a birthday and “time got away”. She said the next morning, she had placed the speaker on top of a car and a man snatched it and slammed it onto the ground.

“If I need to replace the speaker, I will replace it,” she said.

Regarding the loitering offence, Jarvis stated that after she and a man got into an argument because he was inebriated, she went to the house to ask the owner if she could stay on one of the chairs outside, as it was dark and she did not want to walk alone. She pressed the doorbell but, after receiving no response, sat in one of the chairs where “the cameras could see me”.

When Magistrate Jared Richards asked her about the knife, she said: “It was for the gentleman. As I said, he was drinking and being aggressive towards me.”

“But you had it before you went to him,” the magistrate replied, noting that she had two previous convictions and was currently on bail on another matter.

“I am going to summon your mother,” Richards said, before remanding her until Thursday.

(JB)