A bikini model who once falsely accused a tuk tuk driver of raping her in Thailand has now been caught burgling a house, less than two years after vowing to turn her troubled life around.
Stevie Bamford pleaded guilty in Sydney’s Waverley Local Court to the aggravated entry of a dwelling and stealing a silver watch, water pipe and CCTV camera.
The 29-year-old, from Maroubra in the city’s eastern suburbs, is the daughter of former rugby league international Peter Tunks.
She has admitted entering a unit at nearby Eastlakes with two men and another woman on June 20 last year and stealing goods worth $400.
Her burglary case had been delayed so she could undergo residential rehabilitation and prepare an application to have the matters dealt with on mental health grounds.
In the past three years Bamford has also been caught driving with ice and cocaine in her system and pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer.
Bikini model Stevie Bamford who falsely accused a Thai tuk tuk driver of rape eight years ago has pleaded guilty to an aggravated burglary in Sydney. She has previously pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and driving with ice and cocaine in her system
After her last court case Stevie Bamford vowed to turn her life around. ‘I’m dealing with my problems and I’m much more mature now and I’m more aware of… the consequences from what partying does to your lifestyle,’ she said in June 2019
Her case has been delayed so she could undergo residential rehabilitation and prepare for an application to have the matters dealt with under mental health provisions
Bamford, who was already on a community corrections order, was arrested again on February 4 and charged with having a driver’s licence suspected of being stolen in her custody at Malabar.
She was back before Waverley Local Court on Wednesday after being charged with failing to comply with her bail conditions between February 22 and March 1.
The sometime interior design student had resolved to stay out of trouble in June 2019 after being caught with drugs in her system while giving her mother a lift to Sydney Airport.
She had completed drug and alcohol counselling and was now ‘going to be good’.
‘I’m dealing with my problems and I’m much more mature now,’ she said at the time. ‘I’m more aware of the consequences from what partying does to your lifestyle.’
On that occasion Bamford had avoided conviction in Waverley Local Court for drug driving on October 30 the previous year.
Bamford had been driving her mother to the airport when she was stopped by officers who discovered her licence was suspended and conducted a drug test.
When Bamford tested positive to methylamphetamine she said she had taken the drug a day earlier at a party. Further testing found cocaine in her system.
Bamford was sentenced to 15 days in a Thailand jail for falsely accusing a tuk tuk driver of rape in 2012. She had alleged the driver took her to a secluded area and raped her while two other males held her down
After several days of interrogation Bamford admitted she had lied to police because she did not want her boyfriend to be angry at her for returning late to their resort
Magistrate Michael Crompton recorded no conviction and placed Bamford on an 18-month conditional release order.
He also revoked a good behaviour bond she was on for assaulting a police officer at a party the previous year, replacing it with a six-month community correction order.
Bamford told the Telegraph she had learned her lesson as she walked out of court in a snakeskin shirt and zebra print heels.
‘That was a really good outcome, I thought I was going to go to jail,’ she said.
Stevie Bamford’s father Peter Tunks played 10 rugby league Tests for Australia and nine State of Origin games for New South Wales
‘I’ve got rid of all the traumatic people out of my life. I’ve got one good friend and you just need a best friend who’s got your back and that is all you need because Sydney is full of haters.’
It was just the latest in a long list of run-ins with the law.
Bamford had pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer who was called a brawl at inner-city Darlinghurst on May 20, 2018.
She was hit with capsicum spray after she scratched the neck of a sergeant who had been trying to arrest her boyfriend.
Taken in handcuffs to Surry Hills police station, Bamford said: ‘I just got involved in something that I shouldn’t have.’
She spent more than 12 hours in police custody before appearing in Central Local Court the next day.
While Bamford admitted assaulting the officer she said the scratching was accidental and denied being intoxicated as police had alleged.
Solicitor Paul Cranney told the court his client was ‘extremely remorseful’ for what he described as ‘an ill-conceived set of events’.
Magistrate Robert Williams noted Bamford had been before the courts in 2011 for common assault, after which she had resisted arrest, and low-range drink driving in 2015.
Mr Williams convicted Bamford, imposed an $800 fine and put her on an 18-month good behaviour bond. ‘Thank you,’ Bamford said.
That experience came six years after Bamford made international headlines when she falsely claimed to have been raped by a Thai tuk tuk driver in Patong.
Months after her 2012 arrest in Thailand Bamford claimed Australian consular officials had told her to confess to lying to police about being raped so she would be able to ‘walk away’ from the incident
The interior design student was driving her mother to Sydney Airport when she was stopped by officers who discovered her licence was suspended and conducted a drug test
Then 21, she was found guilty in Phuket Provincial Court in June 2012 for making the false claim and sentenced to 15 days in jail.
Bamford had told Thai police she was raped by a tuk tuk driver while coming home after a night out with her boyfriend.
She alleged the driver had taken her to a secluded area and raped her while two other males held her down.
After several days of interrogation Bamford admitted she had lied to police because she did not want her boyfriend to be angry at her for returning late to their resort.
Bamford was allowed to finish her holiday before spending 15 days in the Baan Bang Jo detention centre in Thalang.
A senior Thai police officer said of Bamford’s claims: ‘This sort of thing could damage Phuket’s tourism industry.’
Months after her 2012 arrest Bamford claimed Australian consular officials had told her to confess to lying to Thai police about being raped so she would be able to ‘walk away’ from the incident.
However, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said at the time Australian consular officials gave no legal advice to Bamford, or advised her to sign any statement.
She is also not to approach or contact any prosecution witness, not assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate a protected person, and not commit further offences
Bamford was born in Great Britain where her father played and coached rugby league in the early 1990s after a career with South Sydney, Canterbury-Bankstown and Penrith.
Peter Tunks, who played prop, lock and second row, appeared 10 times for Australia and nine times for New South Wales in State of Origin.
Bamford is on bail with conditions which include reporting to Maroubra police station three times a week, and to not go within 1km of Eastlakes.
She is also not to approach or contact any prosecution witness, not assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate a protected person, and not commit further offences.
She is due to appear in Downing Centre Local Court next month.
Bamford is on bail with conditions which include reporting to Maroubra police station three times a week, and to not go within 1km of Eastlakes, south of Sydney