Larceny or stealing is an offence pursuant to section 117 Crimes Act (NSW) 1900 (the Act), which states:
“Whosoever commits larceny, or any indictable offence by this Act made punishable like larceny, shall, except in the cases hereinafter otherwise provided for, be liable to imprisonment for five years.”
The elements of the larceny offence are:
- The property must belong to someone other than the accused;
- It must be taken or carried away;
- The taking must be without the consent of the owner of the property.
- The property must be taken with the intention of permanently depriving the owner of it;
- The property must be taken without a claim of right made in good faith; and
- The property must be taken dishonestly.
The intention of the accused to return the taken property later is no defence to the offence as per section 118 of the Act.
In sentencing for Larceny, the NSW Local Courts consider the value of the property amongst other things. The following are recent statistics in sentencing for Larceny in the NSW Local Courts:
- For property with the value of up to $2,000, the Local Courts sentenced 30% to fines with around 15% getting sentenced to imprisonment.
- For property with the value of up to $5,000, the Local Courts sentenced around 33% to Community Correction Orders and 33% to imprisonment.
- For property with the value between $5,000 to $15,000, the Local Courts sentenced 40% to Community Correction Orders with 20% sentenced to imprisonment.
- For property with the value of over $15,000, the Local Courts sentenced around 42% to Community Corrections Orders with 25% sentenced to imprisonment.
When sentencing an accused upon conviction, the Courts consider the objective seriousness of the offence and the subjective characteristics of the offender. In the instances where the NSW Local Courts dismissed the charge without conviction pursuant to S10(1)(a) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act (NSW) 1999, the courts considered:
- The value of the property;
- The number of counts of the offences;
- The early Plea;
- The age of the offender; and
- The offender’s past criminal record.
Another important factor in sentencing is the offender’s lawyer and their skill and ability to convince the magistrate to sentence the offender to a lesser sentence. The team at Pannu Lawyers have a proven track record of securing the best results for their clients.
Pannu Lawyers are located conveniently close to Blacktown Local Court and appear daily in Local Court of NSW, District Court of NSW and the Supreme Court of NSW. If you are charged with criminal offences and/or traffic offences, call our office on 02 9920 1787 to make an appointment.