[pinksugar]

I feel kind of bad for the girl who didn't actually do anything wrong and had her formal ruined. She didn't know the dress was stolen!


A TOOWOOMBA dress shop owner proved a teen prom queen's relatives "stole the wrong dress from the wrong person" by catching the frock-lifters after a two-month-long sting.

Chantilly Weddings' owner Shona Berry staked out formals in the Darling Downs town until she finally spotted her $880, one-off lace-and-crushed-taffetta number - despite attempts by the thief to "re-birth" her designer outfit with a homemade, flashy pink addition.

"It meant a lot to us, that dress, because there was a lot of work that went into the lace and the beading," Mrs Berry said. "And I felt very strongly about someone stealing from my shop."

She recalled a young woman trying on the dress, the most expensive item she carried.

"I had in my mind right from the start I was going to find this dress at formal time and embarrass this particular girl, whoever she was," she said.

"I wanted to ruin her formal as she ruined my day. I was just put out that someone stole a dress from me."

She and her seamstress set out to recover the frock, methodically working through several school formals about two months after the theft occurred.

It turned up at the Centenary Heights State High School end-of-year bash - slightly altered but otherwise unmistakable.

"It was black and white originally but (they) had put pink over the exclusive lace panel," Mrs Berry said.

"You know your own dress. We had our own trademark on it, there was no trouble identifying it at all."

Police were called and officers escorted the humiliated teenager in the stolen dress from the formal for questioning.

This week the girl's stepmother, Deanna Turnbull, and her older sister, Tania May Hounslow, appeared in the Toowoomba Magistrate's Court on charges relating to the theft.

Both pleaded guilty and Hounslow was sentenced to five months' jail. Turnbull was ordered to serve 50 hours' community service and pay $225, half the cost of restitution. The teen who wore the dress, Sommer Rose Turnbull, 17, was not charged with any offence.

Detective Sergeant Rebecca Bradley of Toowoomba CIB said it was, without doubt, the most unusual case she had worked on.

"The lady from the shop was really on the ball.

"She brought in a picture of what the dress looked like and decided to go to the formals to find it," Det Sgt Bradley said.

Mrs Berry said she did not know how the dress was stolen.

"I think they had a decoy to occupy me in the dressing room while they made off with the dress from the showroom. I think it went out in a bag," she said.

source: Stolen dress recovered by formal sleuth | NEWS.com.au

[usersassychick0]

Thats soo shocking.. & I couldn't even imagine just how embrassing that would be, to go to your formal & to have everything fall apart at the last minute---but then again, its all karma.

[Bec688]

I saw this on A Current Affair..or Today Tonight, one of those shows. I just wonder how it's possible to steal a dress like that, it's not like it's something small you could just put in your handbag. Anyways, serves them right for stealing it, the woman was whinging at she didn't get enough compensation, ahh I'm pretty sure you have just publically shamed their entire family on national television!

[Darla_G]

i can just imagine the scene it created!

[Anthea]

Wow, that dress shop lady is on the ball. Most would have just written it off, its great to get some justice out of it.

[GlossyAbby]

wow Im glad she got it back but I feel bad for the girl if she in fact didnt know it was stolen...

[Adrienne]

Wow i feel horrible for the girl!!!