'Silly': Dad's desperate pram theft in Adelaide store

The man stuffs the GPS navigation system down his pants after his baby kicked up a fuss. Photo / 7 News

Shocking footage has emerged of the extreme lengths one father went to in an Australian store, with the stunning vision showing the man using his newborn child to pull off an alleged theft.

The man uses his child's pram to allegedly shoplift from the Adelaide store in the 7 News footage, lifting up his baby so he can hide boxes underneath it.

The man tried to place a GPS navigation system into the pram, but when his child kicked up a fuss, the man hid it down his pants instead.

Dad uses a pram with his newborn baby inside in an alleged theft. Photo / 7 News

An anonymous employee at the store who confronted the dad expressed his disappointment with the act.

"I know times are tough … but you don't need to go to those lengths," he told 7 News.

But unfortunately this alleged theft reflected a growing trend at the store.

"It's getting worse and worse," the worker said.

"In the last three months we've seen it double if not triple in the amount of stolen and lost goods."

South Australia Police data shows shoplifting has increased by 30 per cent in the past year, while all other thefts are up by seven per cent.

The man stuffs the GPS navigation system down his pants after his baby kicked up a fuss. Photo / 7 News

SA Housing Trust director of strategic advice Peter Sandeman said it showed the pressure families were under due to cost-of-living pressures, but he stressed that crime was not the answer.

"They're doing silly things and they're gonna get caught," he told 7 News.

"But it does show the amount of pressure families are under; the inflation rate is so high, rents are going up and wages aren't keeping pace and of course the jobseeker payment is falling way behind.

"Perhaps just swallow your pride and go and ask for help so you can feed your family and do it legitimately."

This help can be found at places like Foodbank Australia, with indicative data from the organisation suggesting that 50 per cent of families with children have experienced food insecurity in the last year.

"What we've seen is around 30 per cent of the new people coming in have never actually needed help before," Foodbank chief executive Greg Pattinson told 7 News.