In an "odd" example of motor vehicle theft, two women are alleged to have taken a car for a joyride, getting behind the wheel by simply climbing from the backseat.
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The alleged passengers-turned-thieves were driven to a Sebastopol address, on Albion Street, in a Kia Rio by a friend who was renting the vehicle in the early hours of January 26, 2019.
About 2.10am, when the friend got out of the car to say goodbye to another passenger, who they had come to drop off, one of the women allegedly climbed from the back of the car into the driver's seat and drove off.
In the Kia with the two women was $15,000 in gold-detecting equipment.
The friend immediately reported the car stolen and within a few hours, thanks to the hire car's fitted GPS tracking system, the pair were found parked at White Flat Oval with the car and its contents undamaged.
The second woman, who left Albion Street as a passenger in the Kia, was behind the wheel when authorities arrived.
She faced the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Wednesday for charges related to the theft.
Magistrate Hugh Radford told the court the prosecution did not have a strong case against the second woman.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Mitch Prewett disagreed.
"The co-accused and accused were both driven to an address," he said.
"Both the co-accused and accused remained in the vehicle.
"The co-accused drives off with the accused still in the car.
"Based on that, the accused is well aware the vehicle has been stolen ... and later before the vehicle is located, drives the car by her own admission.
"So the prosecution would submit it's quite a strong case in that regard."
Defence counsel for the accused told the court the "counter story" was that the friend had told the women to "go for a drive".
"This reads more as people joyriding in a friend's car than people breaking into a car with a screw driver," the defence said.
The Courier has chosen not to name the 29-year-old as she avoided conviction.
The 29-year-old accused, who The Courier has chosen not to name as she avoided conviction, was required to make a 12-month promise of good behaviour to the court.
Mr Radford called the offending "tomfoolery".
"You and your buddy have jumped in the car after the owner's jumped out and you've skipped off," he said.
"Everyone is known to each other. It seems pretty odd."
The maximum penalty for theft of a motor vehicle is 10 years' imprisonment.
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