Monique Agostino: Glamorous real estate agent wins appeal to be freed from prison after drug crime spree
- Monique Agostino wins her appeal
- She was imprisoned for a series of drug-fueled crimes
A former model and estate agent will be released from prison in just a month after successfully appealing her prison sentence for a series of drug-fueled crimes.
Monique Agostino appeared in NSW District Court via audiovisual link on Monday after being jailed for nine months for a series of bizarre crimes including drug possession and theft.
The 28-year-old was forced to swap designer clothes for prison greens in May when she was sentenced to at least five months behind bars after pleading guilty to a shopping list of crimes.
Monique Agostino has successfully appealed her prison sentence
Monique Agostino (pictured) once had a legion of online followers
The court heard she was motivated to commit the crimes for profit after losing her driver’s license after driving with drugs in her system and driving without a valid licence.
Without a licence, the former model could no longer work as an estate agent in the affluent Sydney suburbs and turned to crime.
In his original sentencing, his legal aid attorney told the court that Agostino was “an intelligent person who used his abilities for criminal rather than constructive reasons.”
She was arrested in possession of cannabis, stolen NSW number plates and another driving license which she intended to use for fraud.
At the time of her arrest, the former Instagram influencer admitted she took illegal drugs on a weekly basis.
The former model admitted to a series of crimes
She regularly used drugs at the time, the court heard
She was jailed for at least five months for what her lawyer accepted as a ‘determined snub to the law’ after it was revealed police had issued 15 warrants for her arrest over four years .
However, the former Sydney estate agent scored a victory in court on Monday when Judge Mark Williams deemed the sentence too harsh.
He upheld his appeal and reduced his non-parole period, so Agostino can get out of jail a month early.
She will serve the remaining five months of her sentence in the community under supervision.
The legal victory comes after a turbulent few years for the former model, who suffered a drastic fall from grace precipitated by drug use.
Agostino may be released from prison a month early
Agostino is pictured in his passport photo
Agostino was a teenage getaway driver (pictured) who broke into an Italian restaurant
In 2018, she acted as a helmsman for a group of teenagers as they carried out a series of masked burglaries on Sydney’s affluent North Shore and also participated in the burglaries.
The former Instagram model was also caught on ice and a restricted prescription drug during her arrest.
She was imprisoned for at least six months in one of the harshest women’s prisons in the country for a series of offences.
Years later, she’s back behind bars for what she hopes will be her last time.
