A WOMAN who tried to bring a ninja star throwing knife into court, along with a folding knife and two bags of cannabis, was caught during a search of her handbag.
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Erin Melinda Donaldson spoke to security staff while trying to enter the Wodonga courthouse about 9.30am on March 13.
She admitted she had the folding knife and handed it over to the security workers.
But a check of her handbag through the X-ray machine found the four-bladed ninja star, which was seized with the 0.4 grams of cannabis.
Donaldson was arrested and was taken next door to the Wodonga Police Station, and admitted to the weapon and drug offences.
She was bailed, but came to police notice the following month for her involvement in an attempted pokies rip-off.
A blank ticket was ripped from a book used to pay poker machine players at Elgin’s in the early hours of April 18.
The ticket was filled out with a value of $840, but the cashier noticed the time was wrong and the attendant’s name spelt incorrectly.
Donaldson and a co-accused left and the ticket was handed over to police.
She was arrested at the venue two days later and admitted she had given the ticket to a co-accused to cash out.
Lawyer Sally Wilson told the Wodonga Magistrates Court on Thursday her client had clearly been suffering severe mental health issues and had been struggling with addiction.
She had failed to complete two community corrections orders for prior offending, but was given another chance by magistrate Peter Mithen.
“The last thing I need you to do is perform these sort of offences again,” he warned.
The new order will run for a year and include treatment for her issues.