New twist in real identity of "elderly" shoplifter
New details have emerged after an "elderly" woman was photographed after allegedly being targeted by police for shoplifting.
The original photo, which was shared to X, showed an older woman standing outside a Coles supermarket, while two officers sifted through her groceries to check she wasn't stealing.
The post garnered widespread outrage, with many people leaping to the woman's defence and calling for people to "boycott Woolies and Coles".
Now, it turns out that the shopper wasn't an old woman at all, but a 32-year-old woman dressing to appear older.
According to reports from 7News, the woman was impersonating an elderly shopper during the trip to Coles and was discovered with a significant amount of groceries.
Victoria Police confirmed they were called to the supermarket, and issued the woman with a caution for shoplifting.
“Police responded to reports of shoplifting at a centre in Richmond about 3.30pm on 17 April,” police said.
“Officers arrived to discover a woman had been detained on the ground by a loss prevention officer employed by the store. Police separated the parties and spoke with a 32-year-old woman from Glenroy who was cautioned for shoplifting.”
In the initial post to social media, the bystander took aim at Coles and Victoria Police for targeting the shopper, who they believed was elderly, describing her apprehension as “forcible”.
“I told the police that I’ll pay for her food and let her go and then I got threatened with being arrested for ‘obstructing police’,”the X user said
In further posts, the bystander made even more serious allegations about the incident.
“When I intervened to help the lady I then got threatened by the police of being arrested for ‘obstructing a police matter’,” they posted.
Image credits: X (Twitter)