Elisha Dalah Westfield Bondi Junction ban as she’s busted stealing Tommy Hilfiger Sephora cream
Extraordinary fall from grace of a high society kleptomaniac banished from Westfield – when a magistrate demands she stop playing the victim and she takes refuge in her parents’ dockside mansion
- Shoplifting series
- Banned from Sydney’s shopping capital
- Sentenced to a 20-month intensive correction order
A high society thief from a prominent Sydney family has narrowly escaped prison after being caught in the act of stealing luxury face creams and designer clothes from a Westfield shopping centre.
Elisha Dalah, 35, the older sibling of Fishbowl restaurateur Nathan Dalah and sister-in-law of Victoria’s Secret model Georgia Fowler, was criticized by magistrate Jacqueline Milledge when she begged not to be sent to prison despite her long history of shoplifting and drugs abuse.
Dalah’s parents are ex-rag dealer and former co-owner of Elizabeth Bay Marina Michael Dalah and his wife Michelle. In addition to Nathan, she has a designer brother Jordan and an actor sister Sophie.
Waverly Local Court heard that a child’s mother used a “de-tagger” to steal a $249 Tommy Hilfiger sweater and a $170 “Youth Lift” face cream from Sephora at Westfield Bondi Junction on July 14.
Elisha (pictured) is the eldest child of the Dalah family in the eastern suburbs
Elisha Dalah – the older sister of Fishbowl restaurateur Nathan Dalah (pictured) and sister-in-law of New Zealand model Georgia Fowler (pictured)
Plainclothes police watched her leave Tommy Hilfiger and steal the face cream before arresting her and charging her with shoplifting and violating her ban on entering the mall.
Dalah had only recently finished parole for other shoplifting charges when she was arrested.
“I’m sorry, I have a problem, can I afford the stuff now… I don’t know why I steal, I don’t have to steal, I work, I just can’t help it,” she told police. The Daily Telegraph.
Dalah’s troubles began when she started taking drugs at the age of 14 and injected heroin after learning that her former partner had been diagnosed with cancer before the thefts.
The court heard she was eight months sober, went to rehab twice, still engages in substance abuse and psychological counseling, and has not committed any offenses since her indictment.
Elisha and her son live in her family’s Point Piper loophole
Family matriach Michelle Dalah (pictured left) with Georgia Fowler and actor Sophie Dalah
Georgia Fowler, a regular on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival a day before her sister-in-law was in court at Waverley
Dalah would work as a barista at her family business ‘Laissez-Faire Catering’ in Alexandria, Sydney. She lives with her along with her son parents’ palatial waterfront mansion in exclusive Point Piper.
Magistrate Milledge said in a brutally candid sentencing: “Everything I’ve read suggests that you see yourself as a victim – you’re not a victim.”
“You’ve said, ‘I’m a kleptomaniac, I act impulsively’ — you’re calculating and manipulative and deceitful, and your family knows that because they’ve dealt with that side of you for years and years and years.”
Dalah was sentenced to 20 months in prison and 200 hours of community service.
Dalah was also ordered to pay a $500 fine Entering Westfield Bondi Junction while banned.