Leanne Giles, 39, was originally given a fixed-term jail sentence of four-months and placed on an 18-month good behaviour bond.

She had been released on bail on May 12 after spending six months in custody, and faced Armidale District Court last week.

While on the witness stand at her hearing Giles told of when she was released from jail she returned to her Armidale home to discover most of her possessions were strewn across her backyard. She said anything of value she had owned, including basic necessities, had been taken.

“Everything in the house, I cannot describe it in words,” Giles said. “Everything of value was missing: basic needs, I had no shoes or clothes or cutlery. Anything sentimental all gone.”

Giles told how on her first night back at home she awoke to find two men in her house, and had to order them to leave.

On April 1 Giles was convicted of four offences in the local court, which included larceny and three charges of goods in custody.  

She had pleaded not guilty to a charge of goods in custody, in which police found $US25 and $CAD55 in her home; the amount equalling $A80. This charge saw her jailed after a magistrate found her to be guilty of the crime.

The court heard Giles had not offended between April 2000 to October 2013, when nine DVDs were found in her bag as she left Kmart.

Police had searched her home, discovering a further DVDs believed to have been stolen from the department store. But Giles maintained she had purchased some of them from JB Hi-Fi.

During cross-examination Crown prosecutor Edward Freelander asked Giles how it felt to have her possessions stolen and if she could understand how a business would feel to have items stolen.

“Stealing is stealing ... I know full well how it feels.”

Her jail-term was revoked by Judge Clive Jefferys, who kept in place Giles’ good behaviour bond.