​Zoe Dempsey​, 24, of Kenna Avenue, Hamilton, pleaded guilty earlier this week in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to handling stolen goods and theft of a car.

Magistrate Cynthia Toose said the police summary of the offending was “pretty concerning”.

“People seems to morph into different people after the use of ice,” she said. 

“They can act  in manner which they previously would have seen as outrageous behaviour.”

Ms Toose said to go to a car yard and drive away in a vehicle, without ever returning it was out-of character for Dempsey, who she said had a very modest prior offending history.

Dempsey was placed on a 12-month community corrections order with the conditions she do 150 hours of community work as well as assessment and treatment for drug and mental health issues.

“You have escape imprisonment by the narrowest of margins today,” Ms Toose told Dempsey.

“If you breach the corrections order you will come back to court to be resentenced. Very rarely does a court go down the sentencing hierarchy and there’s only one sentence above - imprisonment,” she warned.

Monday: A WOMAN who hocked stolen goods and then failed to return a $20,000 Ford Territory she took for a test drive is being assessed to go on a community corrections order.

Zoe Dempsey​, 24, of Kenna Avenue, Hamilton, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to handling stolen goods and theft of a car.

She will be sentenced on Thursday.

Magistrate Cynthia Toose said Dempsey had gone into Cash Converters with a stolen car fridge under her arm and then test drove a car which she never returned.

She said Dempsey had been using ice and her child was removed from her care.

"Much of what has happened is your own doing," she said.

Dempsey was also ordered to pay $4070 compensation.

Police said that just after noon on January 9 Dempsey  and a co-accused went to Cash Converters with a stolen 40 litre car fridge and chainsaw, which they sold for $140.

The items were stolen in a burglary at Warrnambool's Hotham Street. 

At 2pm the same day Dempsey went to Trevor Lee's car yard in Camperdown and took a $20,000 white Ford Territory for a test drive.

The car was recovered damaged in Bell Park, Geelong, nine days later.

A Coke bottle in the car further linked Dempsey to the vehicle.

When interviewed on January 25, Dempsey was found with three lots of prescription medication, but no prescription.

Defence counsel Jessica Tinette said 2017 was a bad year for Dempsey.

Her father took his own life, her partner went to prison, her child was taken into care, an ex-boyfriend attacked her and she attempted self-harm.

She also started using ice and her memory of offending was described as blurred.

"Her life is a bit of a mess," Ms Tinetti said.

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